There have been swiftwater rescues to save Queenslanders stranded by floodwaters after an overnight deluge dumped hundreds of millimetres of rain on the state’s south-east.

Some 300 millimetres fell in just three hours at Samford, on the northern edge of Brisbane, overnight on Monday.

Footage emerging on Tuesday morning shows homes and roads inundated in the Moreton Bay region north of Brisbane.

There were 17 swiftwater rescues, mostly of people trapped in submerged cars.

Emergency flood alerts have also been issued in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, for residents of Laidley and Forest Hill.

An evacuation centre has opened at Laidley State High School ahead of potential flooding and residents were warned early Tuesday to prepare their emergency plans.

Widespread showers and thunderstorms are predicted to continue this week with isolated falls of up to 300 millimetres expected, and moderate to heavy rainfall for much of Queensland’s southern interior and south-east.

Showers and storms are forecast for south-east Queensland and northern NSW through to Tuesday, slowly moving north.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily is also bringing more wet weather in Queensland’s north-west, days after crossing the coast.

South of Cloncurry has been one of the worst hit out west, with Seymour Gap receiving 256 millimetres in 24 hours, while 244 millimetres fell at Kirby.

Further south at Winton, all rural roads are cut with some properties likely to be isolated for up to eight weeks due to floodwaters.

West of Winton towards Boulia, the Middleton community has recorded about 450 millimetres since the weekend.

“The Boulia road through to Alice Springs has currently got three metres of water over the crossings,” Winton Mayor Gavin Baskett said.

“Some of the crossings are at the highest [flood levels] some graziers have ever seen them.”

Winton’s local disaster management group has been activated with some properties bunkering down for a long, isolated period in floodwaters.

“They are all graziers out there, lucky it isn’t tourist season,” Baskett said.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the ex-tropical cyclone was expected to linger between Mount Isa and Longreach for some days.

Flood warnings are current for large parts of central Queensland as well as the south-east.

There are also flood watches for parts of western Queensland as well as much of central and south-east of the state plus NSW’s north-east.

The bureau said forecast rainfall in those areas could lead to flash or riverine flooding in the next 48 hours.

“In the worst case it could lead to inundation of homes, properties, businesses and agricultural land,” the bureau warned.

Crews are still working to restore electricity for north Queenslanders left without power after Kirrily crossed the coast three days ago.

About 66,000 customers lost power at the peak of the wild weather.

The remaining 1000 homes still without electricity were expected to be restored by Tuesday night.

Kirrily struck barely a month after Tropical Cyclone Jasper caused record flooding that devastated the far north.

-with AAP