Storms dumped more than 1.5 metres (59 inches) of rain in parts of Queensland in the past week, engulfing homes, businesses and roads, officials said.
"The devastation is quite frankly, incredible," the state's premier, David Crisafulli, told a news conference.
"There are people who have been inundated at home, at their businesses and in their farms."
The city of Townsville, a popular tourism destination by the Great Barrier Reef, had "dodged a bullet" as flood warnings were downgraded overnight, he said.
Townsville residents were allowed to return to their homes Tuesday but should remain alert for further evacuation orders, officials said.
Further north in Ingham, a rural town of about 4,500 people, the waters had likely flooded "well north" of 100 homes, the premier said in a separate interview with national broadcaster ABC
"This is going to be a recovery that doesn't go for a week or a month, this is going to take some time," Crisafulli said.
A 63-year-old woman was killed in Ingham on Sunday after the rescue boat she was being carried in struck a tree and capsized, officials said -- the only confirmed death in the floods.
Many rural communities were isolated by floodwaters, which cut off roads and swept away part of a bridge on the state's main coastal Bruce Highway.
Almost 8,000 properties were without power across north Queensland, Ergon Energy said, with no timeframe given for when electricity would be restored.
As global temperatures rise because of climate change, scientists have warned that heatwaves and other extreme weather events, such as severe flooding, droughts and wildfires, will become more frequent and more intense.
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