Large parts of Queensland are bracing for severe weather this week, with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicting three-day totals of up to 400 millimetres of rain.
Eighty millimetres is forecast for Maroochydore today, with Brisbane and the Gold Coast also expected to receive large totals, with the likelihood that will increase throughout the week.
Senior meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said the wet weather was caused by a deepening trough over the southern interior, as well as a second trough that is expected to form over the southern parts of the north tropical coast of Queensland.
"It's a combination of these two features that's really going to ramp up the rainfall totals," Mr Hanniffy said.
Once the coastal trough forms, Mr Hanniffy said it could bring cumulative three-day totals of between 200mm and 400mm for the Burdekin and into the central coast, the central highlands and coalfields, and Capricornia.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Friday said authorities were preparing to respond to a "severe weather event" this week and she urged the community to be prepared for heavy rain.
BOM said the concern was about the sustained rainfall likely over several days, with river systems feeding Longreach, Barcaldine, Windorah already inundated in the past two weeks.
The bureau said further significant rainfall could put life and livestock at risk.
In the north of the state, the BOM singled out Townsville as another area of concern, given the city had already been saturated only a fortnight ago.
Wet weather to 'eclipse' May rainfall totals
Mr Hanniffy said that parts of Queensland had already received more than their May average, and this forecast rain could lead to a monthly total of up to 10 times the May average.
"We expect a significant rain event to unfold this week, particularly starting from about Tuesday and it looks that between Tuesday and Thursday will be the peak," he said.
"There will be an easing trend from Friday and into the weekend."
Mr Hanniffy said it was likely the wet weather would linger, but that was not unprecedented for May.
"We have previously had very wet [weather] in May, with heavy rainfall totals back in 2017 in parts of the central areas," he said.
"It looks like this event is likely to eclipse all those previously significant wet Mays."
The latest forecast summary suggested Brisbane could receive up to 15 millimetres of rainfall on Monday, increasing to up to 60mm by Wednesday.
Dam releases ahead of forecast rainfall
Low flow releases from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam are planned for the next three days.
Seqwater said releases were not expected to cause the lake level in Wivenhoe Dam to increase by more than 0.5 metres in the next 72-hour period.
It said routine operational releases from the dam would increase over the coming days to manage water levels.
