Residents of St. George, which has a history of heavy floods, flew out nursing home patients and set up a temporary hospital as waters rose in what Queensland's top official called a disaster "without precedent".

"Everyone is pitching in, doing what they can do," said Senator Barnaby Joyce, who lives in the town.

"As soon as this is over we have to concentrate on getting the show back on the road as quickly as possible, otherwise people will be out of work, the price of groceries will go through the roof."

Australia called in two more military helicopters for a disaster that has extended across an area the size of France and Germany and has already cost billions of dollars in coal and farm production.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh said the flooding was unprecedented in the state and had now directly affected 40 towns, raising the number from 22 announced previously.

She said waters that have flooded dozens of mines and closed railways and ports would send coal and steel prices spiking, adding that the state produces about half of the world's coking coal used to make steel.

Queensland Resources Council has said the floods have already cost one billion dollars (one billion US) in delayed coal production, while the state's resources minister says the industry is losing 100 million dollars a day.

"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," Bligh told the Seven network TV station.

"Without doubt, this disaster is without precedent in its size and its scale here in Queensland," she added.

In Rockhampton, a regional centre of 75,000 that is now an island in a vast inland sea, residents nervously eyed the fast-flowing Fitzroy River, which is expected to peak at 9.40 metres (almost 31 feet) later on Wednesday.

The town's tourist park was under water, lampposts were submerged up to their lights and waters were lapping at sandbagged stores in the main shopping area.

"To the best of my understanding we have the equivalent of one or two Sydney Harbours of water flowing past Rockhampton on a daily basis," Mayor Brad Carter told reporters, adding that the town could take a year to recover.

"The recovery phase will be long, it will be an extensive process. I couldn't specify the timeframe but it will be several months to six months, possibly a year."

Heavy rains were forecast for Thursday, threatening further misery for the 200,000 people affected by the disaster. Ten people have died trying to drive, wade or swim through the fast-running waters.

Entire country towns have been evacuated and the floodwaters, at record levels in some places, are now threatening the neighbouring state of New South Wales.

Meanwhile snakes and marauding crocodiles were among the hazards for the besieged residents of the steamy state, along with disease-carrying mosquitoes and the possibility of looting.

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