The deluge, which soaked areas including Caboolture, northern Brisbane suburbs and the Sunshine Coast, prompted 418 calls to the State Emergency Service between 6.30am Thursday and 4am Friday. Of those, 173 were in Moreton Bay, 75 on the Sunshine Coast, 55 in Ipswich, about 20 in Logan and 13 on the Gold Coast. Swift-water rescue crews responded to 16 stranded vehicles, with two incidents involving people trapped in cars.
In a dramatic rescue on Caboolture River Road at Rocksberg, three swift-water crews retrieved a man stranded on the roof of his vehicle. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to Caboolture Hospital in a stable condition. Earlier, an ABC reporter and another bystander rescued a man from a sinking four-wheel-drive on flooded Buchanan Road at Morayfield. In a separate incident, a man and woman hiking the Lower Portals track at Mount Barney were trapped from about 3pm and winched out by helicopter shortly before 6pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology's senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said Caboolture and suburbs such as Burpengary and Narangba recorded up to 240 millimetres in six hours on Thursday. Overnight, the Sunshine Coast's Mount Tinbeerwah recorded 99 millimetres in the 12 hours to 6am Friday. Around the Scenic Rim, up to 160 millimetres fell a day earlier. A storm over inland central Queensland dropped 116 millimetres on Mount Panorama before 7am Friday.
Scully said a wet weather system over the region would clear next week, but not before heavy thunderstorms hit again. She warned the system could produce supercell thunderstorms on Monday.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli acknowledged the early storm season, telling reporters Thursday: "All the work's been done, and I know, overwhelmingly, people take this in their stride in Queensland." He said assets had been prepositioned and preparations made for both fires and the storm season, and urged people to help neighbours.