At least four people are feared dead in Queensland's unfolding flood crisis, which will slam the state with another massive damage bill.
Two years ago, floods swept across the state, killing at least 35 people and leaving a $6 billion reconstruction task.
Authorities now face the prospect of doing it all over again.
Many of the communities that were hit so hard in the 2010/11 floods, have been inundated again and pummelled by tornadoes and cyclone-strength winds from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.
The central Queensland cities of Gladstone and Bundaberg are in the grip of widespread flooding.
The southern community of Gympie will flood for the third time in three years. And Maryborough is also expected to go under.
Hundreds of homes and businesses across those communities have flooded or are expected to flood.
In Bundaberg alone, 400 properties are expected to go under, many of them the same ones that faced a heartbreaking clean-up just two years ago.
Entire suburbs have been evacuated as flood waters continue to rise in the city.
The low pressure system has already swept over the Sunshine Coast, causing localised flooding and eroding the area's famous beaches.
It's now moving towards Brisbane, where the worst of its effects are expected to be felt on Sunday evening, before hitting the Gold Coast.
Weather forecasters are warning tornadoes like the six that caused widespread damage in the Bundaberg region on Saturday and Sunday could also hit the southeast corner over the next 12 to 24 hours.
Premier Campbell Newman said the state was in the grip of an extraordinary weather event and he was likely to call in the defence force to help respond to disasters unfolding simultaneously across Queensland.
'We are going to need a lot of support,' he simply said as he briefed the media on the situation on Sunday afternoon.
He called on mayors in disaster-hit regions to make a call to arms and mobilise their own mud armies, like Brisbane did in 2011.
'They can rally their communities. They can pull their communities together,' Mr Newman said.
'We can see mud armies in places like Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg ... and into the southeast.'
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said every avenue of assistance would be offered to the state.
'The thoughts of the nation are today with the people of Queensland who are battling a new round of natural disasters,' she said in a statement.
'The Federal government is working with the Queensland government and local authorities to respond to this threat.'
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart confirmed the state's first flood death on Sunday - an elderly man pulled from the water at tornado hit Burnett Heads, near Bundaberg.
He said the death was flood related but could not release any other details as his next of kin was still being contacted.
There are grave fears for three others:
- A young woman last seen driving into floodwaters at Pacific Haven near Maryborough on Sunday
- A man swept away when he and two companions drove into flood waters at Widgee Creek near Gympie on Sunday. His companions were rescued, and
- A fisherman missing off Port Alma near Rockhampton since Thursday night.
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan promised Queensland would have the full resources of the defence force at its disposal, and two defence choppers have already been sent to Bundaberg.
He said defence assets were also being used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters at Baffle Creek, north of Bundaberg.
There have been dozens of other rescues across the state in the past 24 hours, including a woman in the Wide Bay area who was found clinging to a log in flood waters.
She had been in a boat with her husband when it overturned. The husband managed to make it to safety on his own.
With potentially deadly conditions expected to continue into Monday, Police Minister Jack Dempsey was blunt, telling Queenslanders not to let stupidity cost someone a life.
'I have swift water rescue crews still going to unnecessary people who are playing in creeks and drains,' Mr Dempsey said.
'We have police attending and being taken away from other emergency issues because of people simply going out sightseeing and looking at areas.
'Let police and other emergency services and our hardworking volunteers get on with the job of looking after their communities ...'
On Sunday afternoon, almost 80,000 people were without power in the southeast corner alone.
