Severe weather warnings remained in place in southeast Queensland on Sunday for the days-long flooding crisis that has so far claimed six lives across the state.

Flooding is widespread in the state’s southeast, impacting Gympie, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Brisbane, while major flood warnings are in place for the Mary River, Mooloolah, Noosa and Maroochy rivers, Upper Brisbane and Stanley rivers, Laidley, Lockyer and Warrill creeks, as well as the Bremer and Logan rivers.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology said the drenching would likely continue for the rest of Sunday and possibly through Monday, before starting to ease.

“With many catchments saturated, dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides are occurring, and emergency services are advising the community to stay off the roads and monitor the situation closely,” BoM said in a statement.

Earlier, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described the crisis as “unrelenting” and warned that floodwaters could inundate more than 1400 homes in Brisbane.

A flood warning for 16 suburbs along the Brisbane River was issued on Saturday amid fears thousands of homes could be impacted if the river broke its banks.

“I don’t want to see any more deaths. So please, please if you do not have to be out today, just stay at home because this water is unrelenting at the moment,” Ms Palaszczuk told reporters in Brisbane.

“This is a very extreme weather event that we have at the moment.”

Ms Palaszczuk said there were around 550 people Gympie’s evacuation centre, and 1040 people evacuated across the state.

Authorities expect Gympie’s Mary River to rise above its highest level in 23 years, while supplies have been delivered to an Indigenous community in nearby Cherbourg set to be cut off by floodwaters.

Severe weather was also moving to the Gold Coast, with authorities monitoring the Logan and Albert rivers and calls coming in for assistance from the Gold Coast hinterland areas.

Amid the crisis, water was being released from Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam, which was at 160 per cent over capacity. The Moogerah Dam, inland from the Gold Coast, is also spilling, as is the Atkinson Dam.

Meanwhile, the search continues for a sole sailor, in his 70s, who fell overboard from his vessel near the mouth of Breakfast Creek about 4.45pm on Saturday.

Those who died include a 34-year-old man in the Brisbane suburb of Indooroopilly whose car became submerged in flood waters overnight.

On Saturday, police divers found the body of a 37-year-old man in floodwaters near Gympie, while that of a 54-year-old man was discovered at Stones Corner in inner Brisbane.

A female SES volunteer was also killed when a car she was in was swept away en route to a rescue near Ipswich on Friday night.

The deaths follow those of a 54-year-old man killed riding a motorbike through rising water at Gympie last week and a 63-year-old found dead in a submerged car on the Sunshine Coast.