Thousands of homes could be saved from flooding under a new plan for faster water releases from Queensland's Wivenhoe dam.

The government plans to allow six bridges in the state's southeast to be flooded during major rain events by faster releases from the dam, upstream from Brisbane and Ipswich.

Water Minister Mark McArdle has told the ABC the strategy could spare communities the kind of catastrophic flooding seen in 2011.

"The bridges that normally go out will go out earlier and more frequently," he said.

"But the trade-off from that is better flood mitigation and maybe hundreds and thousands of homes and buildings saved in the Brisbane region by doing so."

Affected bridges include those at Mount Crosby Weir, Colleges Crossing and Savages Crossing.

Source: aap