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INSURANCE company chiefs are expected to be grilled over their handling of individual flood claims following last summer's widespread disasters.

As the weather bureau warned this morning of a 60 to 80 per cent chance of higher than average rainfall in this coming La Nina weather year, the floods inquiry resumed in Brisbane this morning.

It heard from electricity and water providers that were inundated during the summer storms.

Energex chief Chris Arnold told the public hearing the electricity utility was seeking the state government to amend the laws to allow the utility greater access to locations for power access.

Mr Arnold said while substations were in areas that were "as flood-proof as possible", some CBD locations were inundated during the floods.
"Many of our existing standards do aim to get those part assets above the flood level," he said.

"In those cases we're certainly hoping to get those above the defined flood level but in some cases that hasn't been possible."

He said four major substations - in Archerfield, Oxley, Jindalee and Milton - would be upgraded following the flood to take into account the new council flood levels.

During the January floods about 300,000 properties lost power when the Brisbane and Bremer Rivers broke their banks and flooded southeast Queensland.

Earlier, water utility boss Paul Belz said reviews were underway to upgrade the sewerage system after discharges and issues with waste water treatment plants during the floods.

He said a pipeline cracked after it was hit by debris, affecting residents in the riverside suburb of West End, it had been repaired. It was a pipeline built about 100 years ago, he said.

While the standard sewerage system was built to withstand five times the volume of normal flow, the system sometimes experienced rates of 20 to 30 times.

Insurers AAMI and RACQ are expected to appear before the inquiry today.