The bushfire emergency in central Queensland flared up on Sunday evening with residents in the path of the massive Deepwater blaze told to leave immediately.

Strong winds and high temperatures tested exhausted firefighters battling more than 110 blazes across the state throughout Sunday.

Authorities issued the warning for people in the Winfield area, south of Baffle Creek, where embers were expected to have an impact from the Deepwater fire burning to the north.

Further west, residents in Lowmead were told to leave now with the same blaze expected to hit the rural community of 225 people.

More than 160 firefighting crews were battling the blazes, with bushfires at Deepwater and Eungella, in central Queensland, Tinnanbar, on the Fraser Coast, Karara, near Warwick in the state’s south, and North Stradbroke Island, of most concern.

Regional incident controller Mark Stuart said conditions in central Queensland had deteriorated, with crews battling 52 wildfires amid wind gusts of up to 50km/h.

“This time of day and for the next hour or two during the hottest part of the day, when the winds do tend to whip up, is often the most trying time for firefighters on the ground ... to ensure we don’t have spot overs or creation of new fires,” he told AAP on Sunday.

“We have so many significant fires at the moment that all have their own difficulties whether that’s the terrain or the fuel loading.”

At Carmila, 100km south of MacKay, residents were told to prepare to leave as a large bushfire bore down on the coastal community of about 400 people.

In the state’s southeast, residents in the tiny town of Karara, 50km west of Warwick, were told to prepare to leave, with a bushfire likely to hit the area by 5pm.

Residents of Captain Creek were also told to prepare to leave as an unpredictable fire burned towards Davies Road, Oyster Creek Dam Road, Creevey Drive and Murphy Road, to the north of Baldwin Road.

East of Brisbane, a bushfire on North Stradbroke Island’s east coast, near Main Beach, was not threatening homes, however changing wind conditions late on Sunday were expected to push smoke and embers towards the mainland.

These wind changes were expected to cause spotting and blow smoke over to Russell Island and MacLeay Island.

Bruce Gunn, the Bureau of Meteorology’s state manager for Queensland, told reporters on Sunday night that severe thunderstorms were expected around the coastal area by the time the wind heads north on Monday afternoon to the Capricornia and Wide Bay area.

If a severe thunderstorm interacts with a fire it can have unpredictable consequences and so it was important to remain vigilant, he said.

Earlier, macadamia farm manager Robert Griffith, who has been battling fires in the Deepwater area for eight days, said helicopters continued to water-bomb bushland in the area and only rain would fully douse the massive blaze.

“Places are still smouldering and still burning ... There’s still flames around here and there, and they’re still, every seven to eight minutes, filling up out of our dam and taking off,” he said

“People shouldn’t sit back and have a beer ... and say ‘it’s all over with’ because this is when shit will happen.”

Staff at the commercial orchid had been using a water tanker and water cannon to help firefighters over the past week after residents were evacuated from the area on Wednesday.

“We saved some houses and watered them down and put fires out in their front yards ... We’ve checked on as many houses as we can and they’re all fine,” he said.

Meanwhile, the acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, who toured “devastated” areas in central Queensland earlier on Sunday, said the conditions remained concerning.

“We’re still in the response phase of this firefight, there are still many fires burning out of control,” he told reporters on Sunday. “It’s quite hot out there at the moment, the winds have the potential to whip up at any stage, so we need to watch and wait and see.”

McCormack paid tribute to the firefighters and volunteers who had battling the blazes, which have destroyed more than 527,000 hectares of land.

Acting prime minster Michael McCormack prepares to to fly over the Deepwater and Agnes Water fires zones on Saturday. Photograph: Paul Beutel/AAP

“There are people out there, they are exhausted, they are fighting the good fight for their community, for their districts and their lives, and they’ll continue to do that,” he said. “Let’s hope the weather turns in their favour this week.”

The bushfire crisis saw its first loss of life on Friday night, with the death of a 21-year-old man at Rolleston, south of Emerald. He was using a chainsaw to cut down a tree for a firebreak when the tree fell on him.

On Sunday, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, urged people in Queensland to look out for each other.

Morrison had been monitoring the fires from the G20 meeting in Argentina ahead of his return to Australia on Monday morning.

“Despite the very sad loss of one young man, a 21-year-old man who died while clearing a fire break west of Rockhampton, so far I think the efforts have been extraordinary,” Morrison told reporters in Buenos Aires on Saturday local time.

“People’s lives have been very significantly disrupted by the evacuations and other actions that have had to be taken.

“We’d ask for your patience, not just while the fires are burning, but for the many, many, many days ahead, as there will be the clean-up work and the restoration that will have to follow.

“We’re still expecting many more days of very difficult conditions in all of these areas,” Morrison said.

“Just remember to look out for each other, particularly in these heatwave conditions that may not result in fire directly. There is a need to ensure we’re keeping an eye on each other.”