A break in the weather has allowed many evacuees from flood-ravaged northern New South Wales to return home, but thousands more remain isolated.
New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees toured the devastated flood zone on Sunday, appointing former police commissioner Ken Moroney to head recovery operations.
He said Mr Moroney would be based in northern NSW, where flood warnings remain current for nine rivers, although the rain has eased substantially.
River levels in the Clarence, Orara, Macleay, Bellinger, Hastings and Manning rivers are falling slowly.
Natural disaster declarations cover the region from the Tweed to Port Macquarie-Hastings.
Mr Rees said in a statement the third major flood to swamp the mid-north coast this year had compounded the damage inflicted by those in February and April.
"We are working with local government, industry groups and welfare agencies to establish one-stop-shop disaster recovery centres to provide coordinated assistance to people in need," he said.
Residents at Lismore and Grafton have been given the all-clear to return home and the Kempsey business district has re-opened as the Macleay River continues to fall.
An estimated 16,700 people have been evacuated and up to 22,000 have been isolated in the floods, which also claimed the life of a 70-year-old man found near his submerged car south of Coffs Harbour on Friday.
A State Emergency Service spokeswoman said 130 people were evacuated from Cabbage Tree Island in the northern rivers on Sunday, while the towns of Coraki and Woodburn remain isolated.
On the mid-north coast, the towns of Maclean, Yamba, Bellingen, Thora, Darkwood, South West Rocks and Smithtown also remain isolated.
She said volunteers had performed 147 flood rescues, medical evacuations, assisted evacuations, resupply runs to isolated communities and animal rescues since the floods started.
The NSW government disaster declaration extends from the northern rivers to the mid-north coast in the wake of storms that wreaked havoc from southeast Queensland to Coffs Harbour.
The State Emergency Service is investigating why two floodboats broke down and drifted into rough seas while assessing flood risks along the Tweed River about 1.20am (AEST) on Sunday.
Once the crews managed to get their vessels back to shore, five volunteers were taken to hospital.
Isolated showers are forecast along the coast for Monday.
Queensland situation
The ABC reports that the Gold Coast has been hardest hit by the wild weather battering Queensland's southern coast, with beach erosion the biggest problem.
Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says the erosion has been phenomenal, with four-metre cliffs carved into the sand.
"The beaches are very, very severely eroded and they're going to take a long time to recover," he said.
"There's significant erosion on the Sunshine Coast, but not as damaging as on the Gold Coast."
The threat of flooding has eased, but there's another severe weather warning for dangerous surf and abnormally high tides.
All Gold Coast beaches are expected to be closed for several days.
