After lifting as much as they could off the floor of their house, Chris Loy and her partner spent a night wondering how high the waters would rise.
The New Norfolk residents, in an emergency zone near the banks of Tasmania's River Derwent, were prepared to leave on Monday night if the worst came to the worst.
"We had gotten big timber blocks and lifted the fridge and freezer off the floor," Ms Loy said.
"The whole neighbourhood, pretty much on the hour every hour, went around checking everything."
The river crept up a retaining wall at the bottom of the house and peaked less than a metre from getting inside.
"Everybody had a bit of a sigh of relief (on Tuesday) morning. We were pretty lucky," Ms Loy said.
While the couple's home was safe, the bowls club across the road was flooded with the greens turned into brown pools.
A nearby camping ground, a permanent home for about two dozen people, also went under.
Damage assessments were ongoing on Tuesday, including upstream at Meadowbank, Bushy Park and Macquarie Plains where authorities estimate 70 properties were at risk.
The main highway to the three areas remained cut off by floodwaters on Tuesday afternoon.
The Meadowbank dam hit a 8.17m high, a record since data was first kept in 1974.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced grants would be available for homes hit by flooding in the Derwent Valley and the impact would be further assessed.
An emergency alert for the Derwent has been downgraded to a moderate warning as the river and other waterways fell in calmer weather.
However, a new front with potentially damaging winds and rain is expected to form on Wednesday and continue for several days.
"(People should) avoid the flooded areas, and to keep monitoring conditions as they are changing," state SES director Mick Lowe said.
Authorities lashed the recklessness of 13 walkers, including two teenagers and a child, who were rescued from dangerous conditions on Hobart's kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
The group contacted police for assistance on Monday afternoon after getting into trouble.
Temperatures on the snow-capped summit dropped to -3C on Monday night, with a "feels-like" reading of -21C.
Four Hobart City Council workers, who embarked on a five-hour retrieval mission, also found another five walkers needing help.
They used several 4WDs and a tractor fitted with a snow plough to reach the group who were sheltering in the observation deck at the mountain's 1271m summit.
Tasmania Police Commander Jason Elmer said the group had been incredibly irresponsible.
"They were ill-prepared and didn't have appropriate clothing," he said.
"Decisions like this compromise the safety of those who are required to go and rescue them."
About 20,000 properties remained without power on Tuesday afternoon, a drop from a peak of 47,000 a few days earlier.
