The low-pressure system threatening South-east Queensland this weekend is moving south to northern New South Wales.
The system was hovering off the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon and was forecast to move slowly south to the Gold Coast in the evening.
The heaviest falls have been recorded at Upper Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland, which had 135 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday. On the Sunshine Coast, Bellthorpe had 131mm and Maleny recorded 114mm.
Springbrook recorded 200mm of rainfall between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.
Falls across Brisbane ranged between 40mm and 70mm.
The SES had received more than 160 calls for help since yesterday morning, mostly for sandbags or leaking roofs.
During Sunday, falls petered off. Between 9am and 3pm, much of the south-east had between 10mm and 25mm but parts of the Sunshine Coast and Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland had more than 50mm.
Up to 250mm could fall
Through Sunday, six-hourly rainfall totals of between 70mm and 150mm were possible across the south-east, the BOM warned.
Over a 12-hour period, up to 250mm could fall about the Gold Coast hinterland and southern border ranges.
"Intense rainfall which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is also possible about the Gold Coast hinterland and southern border ranges during this period with six-hourly rainfall totals up to 200mm," BOM said in a statement.
"There is a fair bit of uncertainty about the timing and the exact position," Christie Johnson from the Bureau of Meteorology said.
"[The weather system] is moving slowly southwards, so it will be affecting south-east Queensland today, but by tomorrow, it will mostly be over the border into New South Wales."
Meteorologist Laura Boekel said they were not expecting the low to move onshore, but that could change.
"While a lot of our confidence lies that it will continue to stay offshore and move further south, it could move a little bit further to the west and that would mean that we could see more rainfall," she said.
"We're absolutely not out of the woods yet but we're seeing a clearing trend in the next 24 hours.
"Sometimes with these [low-pressure] systems, they're quite at risk of being a little bit erratic."
Ms Boekel said the Macintyre River, near Goondiwindi, is expected to peak tomorrow morning at 9.9 metres, which is higher than the levels reached during the September floods last year.
River and creek levels are rising in the upper Brisbane catchment in response to recent rainfall, but remained below minor flood levels on Sunday morning.
Further rises are expected during Sunday and into Monday.
Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner said council had handed out more than 20,000 sandbags in 24 hours.
"Right now the situation is looking positive, but as we know, things can change quickly," he said.
North Pine Dam, in Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, began releasing water at 6pm last night.
Wivenhoe Dam is continuing minor planned releases to increase its flood storage capacity.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said dam releases totalled 400 cubic metres, compared to the 3,000 cubic metres released during the February floods.
"They’re well below the releases of earlier this year," he said.
Mr Ryan says the system is a taste of what is to come this summer.
"This is the beginning of an intense heavy weather system, not the end, it's the beginning," he said.
The BOM said that severe thunderstorms are likely through the southern interior, and possible for much of southeastern and central Queensland on Monday.
High winds on the Gold Coast
All beaches on the Gold Coast have been closed on Sunday.
"We've got a really strong easterly swell, the wind is quite strong from the east as well," Gold Coast lifeguard supervisor Luke Ingwersen said.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said his region would have more rain tonight and winds of 60 to 70 kilometres an hour.
But he said flood modelling had shown low tides would help water flow out of rivers and creeks.
"There's shouldn't be any house flooring being flooded at all in our city," he said.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said there had not been major falls overnight, with river levels stable or falling.
"Any rising is well below any level of causing concern for road travel or property," he said.
Mr Christensen said water had begun to pool in paddocks, and some farmers have already had to hit pause on their harvests as a result.
"So everyone's just having to take a patience pill for a couple of days and trust that this moves through more quickly than the current forecast," he said.
