After a weekend of drenching rain across south-east Queensland, some northside Brisbane homes have been flooded while water is lapping at the doors of others.

Nea Bovill's home in Clayfield has had about 30 centimetres of water running through it.

"We just woke up with the rain, had a look out the window and saw we had no backyard," she said.

The lower level of her home has mud on the floor and a line of dirt on the walls, showing how high the water has been.

"We're just sitting it out waiting for it to go down - it seems to be taking an awfully long time though," she said.

"I assume the creek is full of bits and pieces."

Neighbouring houses are also flooded.

Residents say their homes have become islands.

Pools in the area are full of mud.

Several low-lying homes at Deagon on Brisbane's northern bayside were evacuated ahead of the high-tide.

Emergency calls

SES crews are out in force dealing with rain-related problems.

They have had about 1,300 calls for help since early this morning.

Moreton Bay Councillor Brian Battersby says Petrie and Redcliffe have been hit hard.

"There's about 260 requests to SES for assistance and in fact they're coming in at the moment at the rate of five jobs every seven minutes," he said.

The RACQ has had its busiest day ever with thousands of motorists calling for roadside assistance.

Spokesman Joe Fitzgerald has urged drivers to take extra care.

"Make sure you double the recommended two second gap [between vehicles] to about four seconds," he said.

"Make sure your low beam headlights are on and never, ever cross a road that's got water all the way cross it because you never know how deep it goes.

"Hundreds of people have already been caught out today doing that exact thing."

More than 1,400 homes and businesses remain without power across south-east Queensland.

Energex says they include about 1,000 in Brisbane and Caboolture, 300 on the Sunshine Coast and 20 on the Gold Coast.

Record rain

There has been record October rainfall in about six places in south-east Queensland, with two-thirds of the month still to come.

Dozens of roads have been cut from the Sunshine Coast to the Gold Coast and a number of schools have been closed.

Water is now being released from all Brisbane's major storages with Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast expected to start spilling this afternoon.

On the Sunshine Coast, Tewantin and Maleny have had more than 350 millimetres since the start of the month breaking records more than 60 years old.

There have also been record falls at the Sunshine Coast Airport, Redcliffe north of Brisbane, and at Hinze Dam and Coolangatta on the Gold Coast.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Ben Annells says there has also been a lot of rain in Brisbane but it has not broken records yet.

"In 1972 Brisbane recorded 457 millimetres of rain and even down at Southport 514 millimetres, so for those places in particular we won't be seeing records for this particular event," he said.

"But we're only about a third of the way through October."

Sunshine Coast emergency crews remain on alert.

Council spokesman Andrew Ryan says they are worried that some coastal streams are continuing to rise.

"Some of our streams are still rising at this point in time - most have stabilised," he said.

"Some of the coastal streams are just peaking with the high tide occurring.

"We have quite a few road closures around the region."

People in low-lying areas are being advised to monitor rising water levels.

Rain contracting inland

Mr Annells says the heavy falls are contracting inland to the Darling Downs while they are easing on the coastal plain.

"Rainfall is just starting to ease generally through Brisbane now - although it is still raining, just not quite as heavy," he said.

"Rainfall has also eased about the Gold and Sunshine coasts so we are still going to see rain at times today but just generally an easing trend as we go through the afternoon.

"We're back to showers tomorrow."

Darling Downs cotton farmers in southern Queensland are anxiously watching the skies, hoping the rain stops to allow planting.

The window for planting runs out in mid-November but growers need about two weeks of relatively dry conditions before planting.

Grower Scott Seis from Macalister near Dalby says the rain has filled dams but they need it to stop now.

"I would think we'd be at least two weeks before we get it onto the ground without anymore rain," he said.

"If we do get the rain that they're talking [about] the concern is then if we we'll actually get on the ground to plant cotton within the planting window."