The State Emergency Services has received a spate of calls in the past few hours as heavy rains and damaging winds batter southern Queensland.
SES spokesman Andy Christies said volunteers had begun sandbagging houses at Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and Maryborough to protect them from potential flood damage.
Five homes were sandbagged in Hervey Bay and 14 streets were underwater afer the area was dumped with 104mm in the 12 hours to 9am today.
Fraser Coast Regional Council's director of external services, Ron Smith, said none of the sandbagged homes were flooded, although water did come within 50mm of the floor of one house.
The SES has also attended several incidents, including a fallen tree on a car in Coolum and fallen trees in Noosaville and Mapleton.
The Bureau of Meteorology has already issued a severe weather warning for the south-east over the weekend.
Localised flash flooding is predicted to accompany heavy rain in Brisbane, with the same conditions to affect Ipswich and the Gold and Sunshine coasts.
Senior forecaster Bryan Rolstone said a low pressure system was developing north-east of the Capricorn Coast and was expected to move towards the south-east coast by Saturday.
"In Brisbane, rain will continue throughout (today) and will probably peak overnight on Saturday and continue into Sunday morning," he said.
The good news is dam levels could finally reach 40pc combined capacity for the first time in three years if today's heavy rain continues.
SEQWater spokesman Mike Foster said the dam levels were currently at 36.96pc combined, and needed about 80-90mm over the next 48 to 72 hours to pass the 40pc mark.
Forecasters have predicted that upwards of 200mm could fall in the south-east coastal region over the next couple of days.
The city received solid rain last night, with an average of 20 to 30mm falling across the city, with 45mm recorded at Wynnum, he said.
Damaging winds with gusts of up to 95kmh are predicted to cause coastal erosion on the Capricorn Coast and Wide Bay and Burnett districts, with strong winds moving to the south-east coast area by the weekend.
Dangerous surf conditions are developing between Fraser Island and Point Danger at Coolangatta.
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