Storms hit southern Queensland overnight, BOM warns worse weather for state to come

Heavy rainfall could threaten vast areas of Queensland from Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned, after a dangerous storm hit parts of the state's south overnight.

A slow-moving system developed over the Darling Downs about 9pm and moved across parts of Ipswich, Logan and the Scenic Rim.

The heaviest rain was recorded west of Brisbane in the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich.

Goolman got 96 millimetres, 71mm of that in half an hour, Tenthill recorded 27mm in 15 minutes, and Grandchester had 40mm in 30 minutes.

A line of showers was over Brisbane this morning and would head north to Wide Bay and Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt and the south-east coast.

BOM meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said some areas could experience between 50mm to 60mm in a 40-minute period creating a potential risk of localised flooding.

"Just to the north of Brisbane, Sunny Coast and right up to the Capricornia today are likely to be the focal point for some potential severe thunderstorms," he said.

Meanwhile, a high pressure system and an upper trough were likely to meet on Monday to bring heavier rain for a large part of Queensland.

Townsville down to the Capricornia coast and possibly south-east Queensland could be impacted, as well as inland areas from the Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders down to Central Highlands and Coalfields.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the Deputy Premier was contacting regional mayors in the forecast areas to ensure response planning was underway.

She said the severe weather would bring heavy rainfall totals which was unusual for this time of year.

"Some of our catchments are already saturated but most of this severe weather is going to be in Far North Queensland and out to the west of our state," she said.

Mr Hanniffy said the system was due to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday and ease on Thursday.

However there was still a bit of uncertainty towards how it could develop, with it potentially easing sooner than expected.

"I think the bottom line is we're in for a very wet period of weather for next week or over the most of next week,” he said.

"We are looking at several days of very heavy rainfall."

The Premier said emergency authorities were now at "lean forward" status with the response to ramp with when the rain hits.

"Once this weather event hits we'll stand up our Queensland Disaster Management group," she said.

Emergency Services Minister Mark Ryan said a response was already underway.

"Whilst its an unusual time of year for that extraordinary weather, can I assure Queenslanders that the usual extraordinary response is already underway," he said.

"We're monitoring the situation and we're ensuring that the appropriate resources will be in the appropriate place for the right time."

Mr Ryan reminded people not to enter floodwaters and urged those in the forecast areas to be prepared with supplies in case they get cut off.

Townsville is bracing for heavy rain from the system, after 22-year-old rain records were broken last month.

Mr Hanniffy said there was a 50 to 60 per cent chance of showers tomorrow in Townsville, and for the showers pick up further on Sunday.

"[The trough] really doesn't go anywhere through much of next week, the upper feature driving it all never really clears …which means you could end up with several more days of potentially significant rain," Mr Hanniffy said.

"It could be a repeat of what we saw two weeks ago."

BOM forecaster James Taylor said between 50 to 100 millimetres could fall on the central interior, which was well above the May average for inland areas.

"The average rainfall for May is probably only around 25 to 50 millimetres, so it really could be quite a significant rainfall event for this time of year for large parts of Queensland."

Mr Taylor said it was too early to predict how far south the system will extend, but he wouldn't rule out significant rainfall for south-east Queensland and possibly further south.

He said the BOM will be closely watching river catchments, with several still affected by residual flooding from rainfall earlier in the year.

"We've already got flooding through parts of Queensland," he said.

"The potential for at least prolonged flooding, but also renewed river rises seems absolutely there."

Ms Palaszczuk said some areas in the north of the state could see May rainfall records broken.

"There's going to be incredibly heavy rainfalls so we want people to think very carefully over the weekend.

"Most of this rain will be coming in early next week.

"It's very unusual to see this type of situation occurring in Far North Queensland especially at this time of year which is usually near the end of the season.

"We are expecting higher rainfall totals than we've seen before in May."

She said the impacted areas would be around Townsville, Ingham, Longreach, Windorah, Barcaldine and it could stretch to Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Gladstone.

"We do not expect this severe weather to be as intense in south-east Queensland, so that is a relief," she said.

"However, we will be monitoring it very carefully.

"Some of our streams and rivers have been saturated from our earlier weather event."

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll urged people to listen to the messaging and plan any travel.

"We have had a number of tragedies out of the last [rain] event, some 14 people passed away," she said.

"A lot of that was people driving through floodwaters or being caught in floodwaters rising."