'We have a grim and desperate situation'

Andrew Sharp (circled) clings to a tree in Toowoomba with water rushing over him. He was washed away but then rescued. Photo / Toowoomba Chronicle

The death toll from flooding in Queensland was expected to rise in what Premier Anna Bligh described as a "grim and desperate situation" - with Brisbane facing a deluge.

Nine people have been confirmed dead and 59 missing after an "inland tsunami" swept through parts of the state, trapping and killing people in towns such as Toowoomba and Murphys Creek.

Floodwaters have surged down the Great Dividing Range and across the Lockyer Valley, isolating entire towns, before breaking the banks of the Brisbane River in a new deluge expected to inundate 6500 homes.

Evacuations began yesterday afternoon in the nearby city of Ipswich and police warned residents of low-lying suburbs on Brisbane's north side to flee to higher ground.

The city may be facing a crisis worse than the devastating floods of 1974.

Floods have been worsened by land too sodden to take any more water and the Bureau of Meteorology has described Monday's weather as a "superstorm" above Toowoomba.

More - and worse - is expected in the next two days as further thunderstorms and heavy rain pound southeast Queensland.

Towns are submerged by waters that have tumbled cars down streets, smashed houses off their foundations and swept people to their deaths.

Others have survived by clinging to trees or clambering onto the roofs of their homes.

Towns now under water include Gympie and Dalby - for the second time in a month - and Cherbourg and Murgon are cut off.

Relentless storms and rain have grounded helicopters and specialist rescue teams and hindered clean-up work in areas where floodwaters have receded.

Medical authorities are warning of disease.

Grave fears are held for dozens of people reported missing, especially in the Lockyer Valley communities of Murphys Creek and Grantham.

"It is expected we will find further persons deceased in those areas," state disaster co-ordinator Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.

"The number we just don't know at this stage."

The toll rose yesterday as rescuers found the bodies of a woman and child in Toowoomba, a woman and two children in a car washed from a country road, and a man and a boy at Murphys Creek.

"Many of the people who are stranded or unaccounted for are families and young children and some of those who have lost their lives overnight are young children, including a mother and two children in a vehicle," Mrs Bligh said.

"We have a grim and desperate situation."

In Canberra, Prime Minister Julia Gillard praised the spirit of Queenslanders in "harrowing" times. "[But] the nation does need to brace itself for the fact that the death toll as a result of ... the flash flooding and walls of water is likely to rise.

"There are still more dark days ahead."

Outside Brisbane, the big Wivenhoe Dam built to defend the city against flooding struggled to cope with water pouring in at a rate higher than the 1974 floods.

The city council warned that 30 suburbs could be inundated.

By mid-afternoon yesterday the city was beginning to panic.

Businesses were shut down and employees sent home, all but essential surgery was cancelled at hospitals, the city's Myer Centre was evacuated, carpark gates were opened to let commuters out free and Brisbane's arteries were choked with cars.

As well, public transport was disrupted or shut down.

The water pumping down the Brisbane River snapped barges and pontoons free from moorings.

At the Port of Brisbane, ships were ordered to put out to sea.

"There's no doubt that we are now in a very different sort of disaster," Mrs Bligh said. "It will test us as communities and as people."

Last night Victoria and South Australia were placed on flood watch as deluges were expected.