Power has finally been fully restored after several weeks but the race is still on to repair schools damaged by wild weather that lashed Queensland.
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Some people have had no electricity since Christmas, with more than 130,000 residents in the dark at one stage following devastating storms in the southeast.
But work on restoring the network supply was finally completed by Sunday night as planned.
More than 1000 energy crews worked 80,000 hours to replace 120km of powerline and 150 power poles.
"I know it has been very stressful for those communities that were still waiting until yesterday (for power)," state minister Di Farmer said.
"I know people have been working around the clock so a big thank you to those people - that will make a monumental difference to those communities to just have power."
Energy crews in the southeast were helped by more than 50 Australian Defence Force personnel to complete the massive task after disaster struck two weeks ago.
"Unfortunately, some homes are too badly damaged to be reconnected, others are getting electrical repairs done or waiting for our teams to confirm that they're safe to reconnect," an Energy Queensland statement said.
"But the electricity network is back up and running and every home or business impacted by the devastating storms and flooding now has access to power."
The Gold Coast endured a tornado on Christmas Day while Logan and Scenic Rim regions were hit hard by storms and flash flooding.
It followed record flooding in the state's far north caused by Tropical Cyclone Jasper.
A major recovery effort that may take years to complete is under way after the back-to-back natural disasters in which seven people died in storm-related incidents.
Now power is restored, repairing state schools will be fast tracked before students officially return in two weeks.
About 130 schools across Queensland were damaged including 95 in the far north.
Ms Farmer said the goal was to have all of them ready for the school year's January 22 return.
"There's one that we're racing against the clock in far north Queensland and hoping it will be okay at this stage," she said, declining to name the school.
"We think it will be but every single school will be functional."
The Queensland repair bill stands at $2 billion but the estimate is set to rise as the full extent of the damage is assessed.
"The full costs and consequences of this...will become clearer in the coming months," Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters in Brisbane on Monday.
There was more rain in the southeast on Monday but no repeat of recent wild weather.
But the Bureau of Meteorology warned severe thunderstorms were possible for the state's southwest and far north later on Monday.
The risk of severe storms on Tuesday is set to push toward the east coast covering areas including the Gold Coast, bringing rainfall with large hail and damaging winds possible.
The Gold Coast has only just begun its clean-up with 700 streets across 20 suburbs to be cleared, removing an estimated 750,000 truckloads of debris.
Australian Associated Press
