Mopping up in north Queensland has begun and flood-ravaged communities have been warned of heartache to come during their journey to recovery.
In Townsville, residents were heaving flood-damaged belongings from mud-filled homes on Wednesday although several suburbs remained underwater with fears of more flash flooding.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the once-in-a-century flood that has killed two men and forced thousands from their homes was "unprecedented".
She warned that although north Queenslanders were resilient people, the enormity of what they'd been through would soon hit.
"They're going to feel it now. Not just for the days and weeks ahead - it's going to be months and years," she said.
"To go back into your home and to have lost things and having to rebuild ... is going to be very hard for many people to take on."
In Townsville 2000 homes were inundated by floodwater and 20,000 more are expected to have been damaged.
It was still raining on Wednesday but less than 15mm of rain fell between 9am and 5pm.
The lull comes as more than 100 police officers, nurses and power workers flew in to relieve exhausted local colleagues, many anxious to attend their own flood-damaged homes.
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill says more flash flooding is possible and the emergency won't be over until the Ross River Dam's floodgates are closed.
"We still have to maintain 24 hour vigilance - which is why we keep saying to people 'it is not over yet'," she told AAP.
About 350 people remain in four evacuation centres and 8600 people are without power.
But schools and businesses are reopening just days after people were being rescued from inundated homes and waterways.
More than 13,000 applications for flood recovery payments have been received and $1.2 million paid out.
Elsewhere in north Queensland, other flood-hit communities near Giru, Richmond, Halifax, Charter Towers, Hughenden and Julia Creek remain isolated by floodwaters.
The state government has kicked off a flood appeal with a donation of $200,000, and The Queen has also sent a message of support.
The monsoonal trough is expected to bring further heavy rain and damaging winds between Cardwell and Sarina, south of Mackay, on Thursday but is expected to move offshore by Friday.
Major flood warnings also remain in place for the Herbert, Haughton, Upper Burdekin, Flinders, Cloncurry and Leichhardt rivers.
The vigorous weather system has also generated floods out west, with farmers reporting livestock and crop losses.
A severe weather warning is also in place on the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula where damaging winds and heavy rain are possible.
