Steven Miles says almost 900 Bureau of Meteorology gauges in Queensland must be upgraded from manual to the more accurate automatic instruments to ensure timely and reliable flood-warning information.
He said the state government would share half the upgrade cost if investment was agreed in the 2022-23 federal budget, describing Queensland as "the most disaster-prone of all states".
Mr Miles said the need for an accurate warning system was never more glaring after the southeast floods destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and killed 13 people.
The federal government should dig deep, he said, after the state's application for $14 million in flood-warning funding under the 2020-21 National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program was knocked back.
"This funding would have gone towards infrastructure in the southeast ... which has now experienced a flooding event comparable in scale to 2011," Mr Miles said.
He said more than 80 per cent of federal-owned gauges in Queensland were manual, with more than 870 needing an upgrade.
"Queensland is undoubtedly the most disaster prone of all states and already ... we are reeling from the effects of six disaster events which have flooded much of the state," he said.
"The rain and river gauge network is critical to informing the Bureau of Meteorology flood warnings issued to communities during flood events like those that we experienced this year."
The Queensland government is only just grasping the "catastrophic" scale of the flood damage, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Of the 16,500-plus assessments done on homes and businesses, almost half had some level of impact, more than 1800 had severe levels of damage, more than 2500 had moderate damage and nearly 3500 had minor problems, she said.
The Insurance Council of Australia says more than 70,000 private insurance claims have already been received, reaching the $1 billion mark.
The federal government has paid $257 million in disaster payments to 241,000 individuals impacted in Queensland.
The state government has also set up personal hardship assistance grants for flood victims.
"While some of these properties will be repaired quickly, others may be uninhabitable for months, if not longer," Mr Miles said.
More than 4400 Queensland government assets were also damaged, including 85 state schools.
Six of those are yet to fully re-open.
Information gathered from damage assessments will go towards the State Recovery Plan headed by Major-General Jake Ellwood.
The recovery is well underway, with rail schedules returning to normal on Thursday and southeast roads cleared.
The premier said the Transport and Main Roads Department had conducted 188 safety inspections on flood-impacted bridges, delivered 194 tonnes of plant mix to repair pot holes and helped re-open 1000 roads in the past fortnight.
The Australian Defence Force is continuing to assist the recovery with 1655 personnel in Queensland on Thursday.
