Rockhampton police have fined several people for ignoring warnings to stay away from flooded areas as the city's streets slowly go under due to the rising Fitzroy River.
The Fitzroy hit 8.45 metres at 1pm on Wednesday, just shy of the 8.5m level considered a major flood.
Many low-lying parts of the city have now had water over roads, and houses and businesses cut off due to water spilling out from the river and bubbling up through storm drains.
Senior Sergeant Ewan Findlater said they had issued a handful of infringement notices of up to $731 to motorists who had gone too close to affected areas.
"A lot of damage is caused by floodwaters coming up slowly, and the bow wave from cars can cause damage to people's homes," Snr Sgt Findlater said.
"So if we see people disobeying signage we will take action."
District disaster co-ordinator Superintendent Ron Van Saane said the activation of the Yeppen flood management plan meant the north-south connection through the town would stay open, with diversions in place to take vehicles over the new Yeppen bypass which didn't flood.
"It is a lot slower than you would expect on the highway, but the best thing about it is it's continuing to flow, the speed limit has been reduced to 40 km/h, and so far we hope that'll continue throughout the next couple of days," Supt Van Saane said.
The city is bracing for floodwaters to peak at 9 metres on Thursday morning, which will see about 200 houses with water over the floorboards, as well as cutting off or otherwise affecting about 3000 homes and businesses in low-lying suburbs.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said while the flood peak had been revised down from 9.4 metres, residents still needed to be prepared.
"We have such a huge catchment up there and this body of water is incredible," she said on Wednesday morning.
"It has to go out somewhere and it's coming through the Fitzroy."
The Premier also urged residents to be safe in the floods.
"We do not know what is in those floodwaters. We don't know what is underneath. Please do not allow your children to play in floodwaters."
It comes as Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow blamed a shortage of funds for a decision to install temporary levees in the middle of streets, condemning one side to possible flooding while protecting the other.
While the local council has set up the temporary levees in the suburb of Berserker, Cr Strelow said tough decisions had to be made because it did not have enough money to protect the whole suburb.
"I lost a lot of political skin a few years ago trying to get a levee that would protect the whole area. Not surprisingly, people are starting to talk about it again," Cr Strelow told Network Seven.
"We can do it for about $120 million, $130 million ... and we would be sitting watching the mighty Fitzroy do its thing with almost no homes impacted."
That means little to residents on the wrong side of the levee.
Reg Dummett has lived in the area for 40 years and said the water should have risen to the levee bank by now.
"They (the council) must be doing something, because it should be here by now," he told AAP.
For pub worker Tahlia Thomasson, the floodwaters provided ample opportunity to field phone calls while relaxing on an inflatable swan outside the local Fitzroy Hotel on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, power has been restored to 51,000 homes in north Queensland, while 40 families remain without in the southeast, down from 170,000 last week.
"Of course we still have issues around Airlie Beach and Cannonvale but we're working extremely hard to get those (resolved)," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Disaster relief payments and recovery allowances have also been activated for Mackay, Logan, the Scenic Rim and the Gold Coast, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said.
He said HMAS Choules, off the coast of Yeppoon, would also be available to help Rockhampton deal with the flood.
But the wild weather and floodwaters have hampered efforts to find a 65-year-old man missing in Lamington National Park, and two central Queensland men, 50-year-old David Heidemann and 58-year-old John Frost.
So far there has been one confirmed Queensland death in the flooding - 77-year-old Nelson Raebel who was found in floodwaters in Logan on Saturday.
