Updated Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:19pm AEDT
The Brisbane River has broken its banks amid dire predictions of the biggest floods to hit Queensland's capital since 1974.
The weather bureau says the river is expected to reach major flood levels tomorrow afternoon and rise further on Thursday.
It is believed 9,000 homes will be inundated as floodwaters race towards the city.
Some areas have received up to 150 millimetres of rain in three hours.
Water is also rising quickly in the Bremer River at
Ipswich, west of Brisbane, where it is expected to peak close to 19 metres.
Police are preparing residents and business owners in the inner-city suburb of
West End for the possibility of evacuations later today.
The Brisbane City Council says more than 200 homes and businesses along the river are at risk, most at
Rocklea,
Albion,
Milton and
Auchenflower.
Police are advising all residents in low-lying parts of
Strathpine and
Dayboro to the north of Brisbane to evacuate to higher ground immediately.
Caboolture is isolated so evacuation out of town by car is impossible. Police are saying that people in low-lying areas who can should move to higher ground or prepare for rising water.
The threat to Brisbane comes after an inland tsunami swept through Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley yesterday, leaving nine people dead and 66 missing.
That wave of brown water is now making its way towards the Brisbane River and catchment areas, where the capital's defence of Wivenhoe Dam is struggling to hold back the deluge.
Officials have had to increase the amount of water being released from Wivenhoe because of major inflows coming from the Lockyer and Brisbane valleys.
The river has broken its banks in parts of West End and water is reportedly slowly creeping onto roads in low-lying areas there.
Buildings in
Fortitude Valley and businesses at
Eagle Street Pier in the city are also being evacuated.
The potentially looming disaster in the city is being made worse by cut and congested mobile phone lines, making communication difficult. Vodafone customers have been without reception for most of the morning.
People have been asked to stay off telephones unless absolutely necessary to avoid congesting lines for emergency services.
