Floodwaters have peaked in Rockhampton but more rain is already filling the Fitzroy river More heavy rain is forecast for eastern Australia, threatening flash floods for communities where hundreds of homes are already under water.
Forecasters predict central and southern Queensland will be worst hit by the latest deluge which will last into the weekend.
In the city of Rockhampton about 500 homes were evacuated as the Fitzroy river peaked at 9.2m (30ft).
The town of St George is braced for the Balonne river to peak by Sunday.
About 1,200 homes across Queensland have been inundated since heavy rains set in last month, with another 10,700 suffering some damage, officials say.
Meteorologist Bryan Rolstone, quoted by Australian broadcaster ABC, said the latest rain would fall in the Wide Bay-Burnett region, affecting Rockhampton and the city of Bundaberg, which has also already suffered severe flooding.
The BBC’s Nick Bryant reports from a helicopter above Rockhampton
State disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart described the forecast as “worrying”.
“We’re watching the rain patterns very, very carefully,” he said.
In St George, residents have filled about 10,000 sandbags and more were being prepared in an attempt to protect homes.
The latest storm has delayed the return of the 150 residents of the community of Condamine in south-west Queensland, who were airlifted to safety a week ago when the local river flooded.
The town has no electricity or running water, and the schools and churches are also flooded.
Even in parts of Queensland which are beginning to dry out, an influx of snakes is making it dangerous for people to return to their flooded homes.
Saltwater crocodiles are posing another hazard.
“There is a lot of snakes – and I mean a lot,” Rockhampton resident Shane Muirhead told ABC.
“Like every hundred yards you will see a snake. They are just everywhere.”
Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter has said it could take a year for the city to recover.
With natural disasters declared across an area of a million square kilometres, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the flooding was unprecedented in her state and had now directly affected 40 communities.
She said floods that have closed dozens of mines, railways and ports would send coal and steel prices soaring.
Queensland produces about half the world’s coking coal used to make steel.
“Seventy-five percent of our mines are currently not operating because of this flood, so that’s a massive impact on the international markets and the international manufacture of steel,” she told the Seven network TV station.
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