Flood waters have inundated Judy White's home in north-west Sydney three times in four months.
The Nepean River, which peaked at 16.61 metres on Sunday, rose past the top of her front door in Londonderry on Sunday.
"I've had this place for 12 months ... I didn't even make it to nine months. People don't understand unless they've been through it," she said.
"Where do you start? Mentally, physically, financially, it destroys you ... It's been three months later. I'm still cleaning up and it's happened again."
Ms White is not alone.
Down the road from her property, in South Windsor, Sean Diemert can't remember flooding so destructive in the 25 years he has lived in the area.
"We have to just fix and do it again, we want to sell and move from here, but you can't. Nobody's going to buy a place where it looks like this."
Climate expert James Pittock, a professor in environment and society at the Australian National University's Fenner School, said Mr Diemert shouldn't be looking for a private buyer.
"The government should buy these homes back," he said.
"We've seen buyback schemes in places like Brisbane that enable people to move to safe ground. And that's what we really need for the 5,000 or 6,000 most flood-prone homes in Western Sydney."
One solution the NSW government believes could help the area is raising the wall at Warragamba Dam — Sydney's main water source.
The state government believes its plan would mitigate floods by giving the dam around 14 metres of space above the current level to "hold back" extra water.
But, Professor Pittock warned converting the drinking-water dam to a flood-prevention tool could "instil a false sense of security" in the area.
The plan has also been criticised by environmental groups, who argue the Blue Mountains could lose its world heritage listing, and some First Nations people, who warn culturally significant sites would be destroyed.
While not the largest recorded rise to the river in history, Sunday's downpour saw the Hawkesbury-Nepean River at Windsor peak to its highest level in more than 122 years.
Prior to this year, the highest flood level recorded in the area since 1900 was 14.95m in November 1961 — one year after the Warragamba Dam was built.
The highest level on record was 19.68m in 1867.
"This is a problem that New South Wales governments have known about for over two centuries," Professor Pittock said.
"They've simply failed to put in place the land-use planning to prevent people being put in harm's way."
Professor Pittock said more regular weather extremes sparked by climate change would likely leave the area vulnerable.
Residents claim development in the area — specifically, more concrete — is compounding the problem, leading to torrents rushing through their community faster and giving them less time to evacuate.
"The waters moved a lot quicker this time. I left here last night watching the water come up," she said.
Ms White said people needed more government intervention after the floods.
"You need immediate help, and it's not immediate, it's weeks and months later. Now there's people that have got nowhere to go. They'll be sleeping in their cars ... they'll be sleeping in their trucks," she said.
"I thought they might have a better plan put in place because it's so regular now."
