Water is lapping behind shops in Forbes as stressed locals wait for the worst flooding in the central west NSW town in 70 years.
Emergency services have issued 22 emergency warnings across the state including for Wagga Wagga, Gunnedah and Moama.
Premier Dominic Perrottet visited Forbes on Friday where the overflowing Lachlan River could by evening exceed 10.8 metres, a mark not reached since 1952.
About 1000 people have been told to leave for higher ground.
"(The floodwater) is sort of lapping on the back streets of the shops in the CBD, so it's pretty awful but it's what we've expected," Forbes Shire Council mayor Phyllis Miller told ABC Radio on Friday.
"I think there's a bit of panic in town. There are some people who have just moved here. We're OK but it's just the unknown of where this flood will end up."
The flood peak about 20 kilometres upstream of Forbes on Friday morning was expected to reach the township by evening, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Emergency accommodation has been set up at a local school.
Local cattle farmer Charles Laverty spent Thursday sandbagging his property on the outskirts of Forbes, with about one third of his paddocks already underwater.
Continued flooding has hit the area and other farming communities hard, as they struggle to recover from repeated bouts of destruction to crops and livestock losses.
"A lot of (my neighbours) have given up on harvesting those areas, which is very expensive," Mr Laverty told AAP.
"The losses are going to be devastating for them."
SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan has said areas such as Forbes were experiencing what is referred to as "blue-sky floods".
"Even when the rain has stopped falling, water is continuing to move downstream through various catchments, creating issues with river rises and renewed flood peaks," she said.
Mr Perrottet was briefed by the SES in Forbes before meeting volunteers at a sandbagging site, as the state and federal governments provided more disaster relief support.
Primary producers and other flood-affected people can check grant eligibility and apply through the NSW Rural Assistance Authority's website.
"Sadly, many communities remain underwater, herds and crops have been swept away and the full extent of the damage is yet to be revealed," the premier said in a statement.
Meanwhile, police divers continue to search for the body of a man swept out of a ute tray and into a flooded river in the Southern Tablelands.
The man was one of two flung from the tray on Monday night when the ute was driven across a causeway. Police divers found the other man's body on Thursday afternoon.
Elsewhere, the Murrumbidgee River has caused major flooding and evacuation orders for the major regional centre of Wagga Wagga.
The river reached 9.72 metres on Friday morning, above the December 2010 mark and on its way to the record set in 1952 by the evening.
Major flooding at Hay is expected to worsen from mid-November while moderate flooding is occurring at Tumut and Narrandera.
In the west, flood peaks are flowing into the Barwon-Darling River system from multiple tributaries causing flooding at Mungindi, Mogil Mogil and Walgett.
Brewarrina, Bourke and Louth are among towns being warned to prepare for major flooding this month similar to that experienced in September 1998.
