The Queensland government expects a hefty damages bill from flooding in the state's north, where police are patrolling affected homes to protect them from looters.
Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford says damage to infrastructure, particularly the road network, will amount to many millions of dollars.
"We're expecting to see some significant damage to roads, to bridges, washouts, culverts those sorts of things," he's told ABC radio.
Authorities are also monitoring sewage and water supply systems.
Flood waters are finally dropping at Ingham, north of Townsville, were 90 per cent of properties were in some way affected by the tide of brown water that cut the town in two.
Police in flood-hit parts of the north are carrying out additional patrols to guard against opportunistic criminals.
"Patrols will be conducted in an attempt to prevent any person from looting or whatever," Senior Sergeant Joe Mathieson told the ABC.
State disaster co-ordinator Deputy Commissioner Bob Gee said at least a third of Queensland's local government areas had been affected by flooding.
And with more rain forecast, he warned the disaster was not over yet.
Seven state schools, five Catholic and independent schools, and seven daycare centres remain closed in flood affected communities.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk travelled to the region on Sunday to assess the damage, after a disaster declaration was made for communities from Cairns south to Townsville,
"I don't think people in the southeast realise how much impact this flood has had on this region and the surrounding communities," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.
The state government will open up disaster funding for people and councils directly affected by the flood waters.
The Bureau of Meteorology says more rain is expected in coming days.
A low pressure system in the Gulf of Carpentaria is now considered unlikely to develop into a cyclone, but it will bring more wet weather to northern and Gulf regions as it heads west.
Forecasters are also closely watching a low pressure system in the Coral Sea, which could form into a cyclone later in the week.
The bureau says there's a 20-50 per cent chance of the system forming in coming days, and it's expected to move in a south, southwesterly direction.
"We're not really expecting it to come to the coast, at this point, as a tropical cyclone ... but there might still be some impacts, particularly in the sense of dangerous surf for our southern Queensland beaches," forecaster Michelle Berry told ABC radio on Monday.
More than 700mm of rain fell in a number of catchment areas in four days, with The Boulders, south of Cairns, receiving 1009mm in the seven days to 9am on Saturday.
