Entire Queensland towns have been inundated and more could go under in a deluge that's swamped the state makes its way towards the sea.

Mass evacuations are under way across flooded Queensland with disasters declared in the inland towns of Theodore, Dalby and Chinchilla.

Firefighters are inspecting the site of a blaze in Canterbury that burnt nearly 60 hectares of trees and pasture.

Police and the Fire Service are investigating a fire which gutted a high school gymnasium in the Wellington suburb of Rongotai this morning.

Firefighters in Canterbury are preparing to spend their Christmas Day battling a blaze that has so far burnt nearly 60 hectares of trees and pasture.

A massive blaze has engulfed the hills above Waimate in south Canterbury and tonight continues to burn.

Stretched Canterbury firefighters are battling two large scrub fires, one in Rolleston and one in Waimate.

Firefighters are continuing to battle a 120 hectare scrub fire in Waimate, which has now spread into forest.

Te Aroha locals are supporting the families of workers who lost their jobs when the local meatworks went up in flames.

'They're calling it a seasonal lay-off which is bull,' a worker at Silver Fern Farm's fire-hit Te Aroha factory says.

About 160 of the 350 workers at Silver Fern Farms' Waikato beef slaughter plant at Te Aroha are likely to only be paid a minimum wage until Christmas.

The 200 workers left jobless after a massive fire gutted a Waikato freezing works remain cautiously optimistic.