Police have recovered the body of a man who drowned after his car was swept off a causeway amid major flooding across southern Queensland.

Emergency services took hours to finally locate the body in the ute in Oakey Creek at Yalangur, north of Toowoomba, due to the dangerous conditions.

Queensland Police said the vehicle’s sole occupant was a 73-year-old man from Roma.

Officers were notified that two cars had been swept into the creek at about 8.30am on Wednesday.

The sole occupant of one vehicle was able to get out and escape unassisted.

But rescue crews in boats and a helicopter could not reach the other ute due to the floodwaters.

Police divers were called in and discovered the man after 4pm when water levels receded.

Southern Queensland remains on flood alert amid a continuing deluge that forced 900 people to be evacuated from Inglewood in the Goondiwindi region on Tuesday night.

At the nearby town of Yelarbon, 200 residents were evacuated on Wednesday with more communities on high alert.

Up to 180 millimetres of rain fell in some parts of the state in 24 hours, with more than 50 gauges recording 100 millimetres in south-east Queensland alone.

More than 400 roads throughout the state were flooded.

State Emergency Service was involved in more than 30 swift-water rescues and responded to more than 400 calls for help in 24 hours.

Federal Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud said it was too early to gauge the floodwater damage.

“The federal government is monitoring very closely unfolding events in Queensland,” he said.

“We are working closely with state and local government ensuring any federal resources that are required are provided.

“Once the floodwaters recede we expect the state government to safely get in and make assessments.

“From there they will make applications to the federal government for disaster assistant payments.”

Floodwaters began to recede in Inglewood on Wednesday afternoon, allowing people in their evacuation centre to return to town to be briefed on their next move.

“They were pretty happy to … come into town because the evacuation centre was out at the cemetery and people were basically camped in their cars all night,” Queensland Ambulance Service’s Wayne Kirk said.

“We still have floodwaters through the town. They have subsided a little but there is still a lot of water moving through the town heading towards Yelarbon.”

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The Bureau of Meteorology had issued six major flood warnings by Wednesday afternoon.

More than 800 residents are on standby in the border town of Texas with the Dumaresq River rising quickly and more rain forecast for Wednesday night.

BOM said the Logan River was flooding at Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, for the second time in four days. Water levels are expected to peak at 10.2 metres.