Sealing the Pike River mine could see vital evidence lost, the lawyer for the families of those killed says.

A woman clung to the side of a cliff face for eight hours after becoming stranded in rising tides.

A spokesman for the Pike River miners' families says the Prime Minister has been getting false information from the wrong people, and a decision to halt the recovery effort was rushed.

Police have charged missing diver Colin Smithies with wasting police time after a $50,000 two-day search for him near Porirua turned out to be pointless - as he had hitchhiked to Hawkes Bay.

Police are expected to this afternoon reveal details of why a diver reported to a Hawkes Bay police station after an extensive two-day search for him near Porirua.

Brisbane's mayor has called on residents to 'put the shoulder to the wheel' and help clean up.

The frightening power of the brown surge heading towards Moreton Bay leaves no mistake about the devastation that this flood has done.

Find out what people are saying about the Queensland floods in social media.

The Brisbane River peaked at 4.6m this morning with residents warned there would be shocking scenes of devastation.

A flood survivor has described trying to grab people fighting for their lives only to find they were bodies in turbulent water.

The death toll from flooding in the Toowoomba region has risen to 12 with the discovery of two more bodies, while the full impact of the flood terror is now reaching the town of Grantham, where up to 30 could be dead.

The diver missing for two days near Titahi Bay has been found - after walking into a police station in Hawke's Bay.

Three thousand homes in Ipswich, southwest of Brisbane, are now under water and 1500 people have gone to evacuation centres, with the predicted flood peak still three hours away.

Peaking river levels in Brisbane could have a devastating effect this evening, with almost 20,000 homes expected to be swamped by tomorrow. Meanwhile, 56,000 homes and businesses are without power and a fire has started at Suncorp Stadium.

Up to 33 per cent of Ipswich, 40km south-west of Brisbane, could be underwater in hours, with floodwaters from the Bremer River, which have already submerged entire blocks of the CBD, set to peak around 2pm (NZT).

A NZ Civil Defence worker who is part of a team helping residents of Queensland is overwhelmed by the scale of the devastation.

Amid tales of tragedy and heroism in the devastating floods, there's always some clowns.

Brisbane is bracing for a high tide this afternoon as thousands evacuate due to flooding in Queensland that has left 10 dead and another 90 missing.

Internet trolls have defaced a Facebook site paying tribute to the victims of the Queensland floods.

Police say they are confident a body found on a lake near Rotorua this morning is that of a missing teenage jetskier.

The search for a paua diver missing at Titahi Bay in Porirua resumed at first light today.

Toowoomba boy Jordan Rice, 13, has been remembered as a hero after he let his younger brother be rescued first.

Bystanders watched in horror as a woman only centimetres from her rescuer lost her grip on a power pole and disappeared under a torrent of dirty water during flash floods in Queensland.