The Manning River reached its highest level on record at Taree, a regional centre on the NSW mid-north coast, as it and the surrounding area were hit with months of rain in a period of days.
"When you look at the river now it is so passive," Lawrie Dege told AAP from the local sailing club on Saturday.
"Three days ago ... it was charging."
Drones are flying in supplies as work begins on assessing the flood's impact on about 10,000 damaged properties, while an estimated 50,000 people remain isolated.
Locals are starting a massive mop-up as emergency services focus on preventing further deaths from flooding which has been linked to the deaths of five people.
The SES conducted another 44 rescues in the 24 hours to 2pm, adding to almost 800 conducted during the floods.
Twenty-four emergency warnings remained in place.
Floodwaters were beginning to recede, but recovery was still the last priority, Premier Chris Minns said during a visit to the region following the disaster.
"First priority, of course, is to save people in imminent risk of death. The next priority is to supply food and shelter."
Hardship grants have been announced and will be available in the coming days.
But long-term recovery support was still being figured out and the premier wanted to avoid over-promising after previous, well-intentioned flood responses - including property buybacks - came up short.
"I've seen these programs ... not actually work or apply to just a small number of people," he said.
"We're determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, given we're having more and more of these natural disasters."
MidCoast Council Mayor Claire Pontin said she hoped the premier's visit to Taree, where businesses and residents had been left devastated, would "just strengthen their resolve to help".
"There's a lot of heartbreak, I'm sure there's trauma, people are going to need help and that was the message I was getting out."
Mr Dege said the support from locals had already been incredible, with MP Tanya Thompson coming down to clean and organising a footy team from nearby Forster to carry flooded appliances out.
But more support would need to be rolled out.
"Some fair-dinkum government assistance would be wonderful ... anything," Mr Dege said.
The club's location on the river made it uninsurable.
More than 2700 claims had come in from flood-hit areas and a hub would be established in Taree on Tuesday to help insured, the Insurance Council of Australia said.
Farmers are also beginning to take stock of their losses after cattle were washed down rivers.
Roads and bridges will be evaluated before evacuation orders are revoked, with residents urged not to ignore road closures even if no water is around.
"We're still expecting some of those flood levels to slowly recede," Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse said.
Flooding closed the Pacific Highway between Coopernook and Purfleet, near Taree, and another section at Charmhaven on the Central Coast.
Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said the highway would likely be reconnected on Saturday night as crews cleared "extensive" debris.
A man believed to be in his 80s was found inside a burnt-out vehicle at a Cooplacurripa property, northwest of Taree, on Friday, while a man in his 70s was found after his vehicle was swept off a causeway near Coffs Harbour.
Another man died at a flooded home near Taree, as did a driver west of Port Macquarie and a 60-year-old woman near Coffs Harbour.
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