100mm on Coast as state cops drenching...

QUEENSLAND'S far northwest is celebrating as days of rain soaks parched country, setting up hundreds of graziers for a prosperous year after decades of drought and flood.

The rain band that came down from the western side of the Gulf earlier in the week has soaked properties around Mount Isa and down to Boulia with a steady, soaking rain that has produced only mild flooding.

Just outside the isolated town of Dajarra, about an hour and a half's drive north of Boulia, station hand Dylan Brown of Alderley Pastoral Company said the rain had cut off almost every cattle station in the district, but was the perfect tonic for grazing families.

Many stations in the Boulia district had missed the massive February deluge which swamped the north west and destroyed more than half a million cattle.

But this week's steady soaking rain had come at a perfect time in mid-Spring.

The harsh summer sun will not burn off the new grass and, after the milder warmth of April, beef producers who received the rain should have plentiful pastures to see their herds through the winter.

"Everyone around here is pretty happy with the timing of it,'' said Mr Brown, whose family operates cattle properties in the region.

At the Dajarra Roadhouse, proprietor Adrian Cooney, whose phone and internet connection have been down over the past few days, said the town remained cut off by road to the south, but he was not complaining.

"It's has just been coming down steadily over the past couple of days,'' he said.

"Here in Dajarra we had had about 5in (about 125mm) before this rain arrived, so the country is starting to look pretty good.''

Meanwhile, parts of the southeast corner have also received good rain.

Severe rainstorms lashed the Sunshine Coast yesterday, with Coolum and the Sunshine Coast Airport at Marcoola copping the heaviest falls.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported more than 100mm of rainfall at those locations.

Coolum West came close to cracking the 100mm barrier, with 95mm.

In total, more than two dozen measuring stations around Maroochydore experienced more than 55mm.

The Sunshine Coast hinterland mostly saw between 25mm and 50mm. South Stradbroke Island recorded 55mm and Upper Springbrook 68mm.

Central Queensland towns including Clermont saw significant rainfall also with 14 stations reporting 100mm or more.

Clermont, northwest of Emerald, recorded 197mm of rain, raising the risk of flooding at nearby Sandy Creek to a moderate level.