Threat to St George eases as Qld mops up

The imminent threat to the town of St George looks to have finally eased as southern Queenslanders once again count the cost of devastating floods.

Thousands of people were evacuated from St George and taken to the safe havens of Dalby and Brisbane, with grave concerns the Balonne River would rise above the town's levee bank.

But those worries were soothed on Monday afternoon, when the Bureau of Meteorology predicted the river would peak at 14.5 metres on Tuesday - short of the 15 metre mark previously feared.

Balonne Shire Mayor Donna Stewart said work to shore up the levee banks has been completed, and he backed the earthen defences to protect St George.

"I've got every confidence it will hold the water out of the town," she told AAP.

"But there are about 30 homes outside the levee which have flood water in them or soon will have."

Police Minister Neil Roberts said 2500 of St George's 3000 residents had been evacuated.

Several hundred people disobeyed the mandatory evacuation order issued on Sunday night, which Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said was disappointing, but not surprising.

However, Ms Stewart said those who stayed knew what they were doing and were not being "pig headed".

"They were monitoring the situation and they said they would have evacuated this morning if the river continued to rise ... they weren't going to be taking any risks," she said.

Mr Roberts said more than 30 homes had already been flooded in St George and that was expected to rise.

Ms Stewart said it would be a long time before the full extent of the damage was known, with flood waters creeping slowly towards 14 metres - beyond the town's record levels.

Mr Roberts said flood waters had damaged 280 homes in the town of Mitchell, where evacuations had also occurred at the weekend.

Residents slowly re-entered the town on foot as the damaged Maranoa River Bridge - the main access point to the town - was assessed for its safety.

Residents were also able to return to nearby Roma, where around 380 homes had some form of damage.

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan said the situation in both towns was "pretty diabolical", but he was heartened by the presence of more than 400 volunteers who formed a mud army.

Further west at Charleville, residents were yet to receive the all-clear to re-enter the town, despite flood waters slowly subsiding.

Mayor Mark O'Brien said the evacuation zone around the town would probably remain in place until Tuesday.

He said some people had returned to Charleville, but hundreds were still sleeping at the town's evacuation centre.

Agriculture industry body AgForce said the state's third bout of severe flooding in three years would take its toll on farmers.

AgForce Cattle president Grant Maudsley, who had an aerial tour of southwestern Queensland on Monday, said there was a massive rebuilding task in front of primary producers.

"These families are facing major clean-ups of their homes, but they are also confronted with the daunting and costly task of rebuilding fences and infrastructure swept away by the floods," Mr Maudsley said.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh opened the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal on Monday, kicking it off with a $2 million donation from the state government.

The fund, which will be administered by the Red Cross, takes a similar shape to the one which raised $277 million after last year's floods and Cyclone Yasi.

Ms Bligh also announced that disaster relief payments would be extended to flood victims across southwest Queensland.

A total of 20 local council areas are now eligible for the funding, which includes one-off payments of $1000 for adults and $400 for children.

One person has died so far as a result of the floods - Roma mother Jane Sheahan, whose car was swept away when she drove into a flooded road.

Her seven-year-old son was saved by onlookers.