The head of the Queensland Institute of Architects who experienced the fatal floods in 1974, says the latest crisis is very similar.
But institute president Peter Skinner says back then, there was none of the flash flooding that has swamped Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich on Monday, killing 13 people.
Mr Skinner says many of the much lighter wooden housing in low lying areas of Brisbane were the hardest hit in January 1974.
He says they basically fell off their piles and floated down the river, but houses built in more recent years are made of more solid material.
