More than half of Barry Heib's caravan park in Moama, on the NSW border with Victoria, has been underwater since mid-October.
Large parts of the border town were first placed under emergency and evacuation orders on October 19 due to major flooding of the Murray River.
Almost two months later, the waters finally subsided.
After completing 1,100 damage assessments in the town, the SES this week downgraded emergency orders and declared the majority of the area safe.
Now property owners like Mr Heib are taking stock of the damage.
"The bottom half of the park, which has been flooded, it's just mud and mess and debris everywhere," he said.
"Now the water has receded, we've been inside some of the cabins, and the wood's wrecked, mould everywhere. It's just catastrophic damage."
Of his 42 caravans, about one-third have been destroyed.
At an estimated price of $120,000 per caravan, it means Mr Heib is looking at a repair bill of about $2 million.
"We will have to do some flood mitigation work for the future, which would mean a far greater expense in building cabins going forward," he said.
Laura Buckley's home on the outskirts of town was also under the evacuation warning and only deemed safe to return to on Monday.
From her front doorway, she observes the damage.
"It looks like something's just washed through, and everything's gone, and I have to start again," she said.
"It's all brown and disgusting."
She said her makeshift levee bank was able to save her home, but the property had sustained significant damage.
Crops and gardens are littered with dead fish dumped by floodwaters, fences have been destroyed, and her driveway washed away.
"The river and the flood system were so vast it meant that a lot of debris would have flowed that was contaminated — sewage systems, oil drums," she said.
Disaster payments still not available
Mr Heib said despite the damage, the business had not yet had access to any disaster relief payments.
"It is not clear as yet what is available to us to get off the government to help us rebuild," he said.
Ms Buckley said the timeline of access in the border town had been a case of haves and have-nots.
"On the Victoria side, theirs was very fast, within a week or two, and there was lots available for businesses and farmers," she said.
Ms Buckley said she had not been able to access anything except a one-off $1,000 payment.
The Murray River local government area was allocated category D funding on November 18, one month after the flooding event began.
The local government area is eligible for several state grants including the Disaster Recovery Allowance and the Disaster Relief Grant, but Ms Buckley said none had been available until properties were declared safe for return.
For her and most others, that was this week.
"Not just for myself but farmers, local tourism operators, it's been really hard," she said.
"They're all looking into dipping into mortgages to cover damage, which isn't ideal.
"The government really needs to change how quick they move."
Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience Steph Cooke was contacted for comment.
Council estimates $40 million in damage
The Murray River Council has estimated the council area's clean-up bill will be about $40 million.
Mayor Chris Bilkey said it would take at least 12 months for a full repair of an estimated 3,200 kilometres of damaged roads and assets.
Public information officer with the SES Lachlan Gilchrist, said the damage assessments revealed "an enormous amount of devastation".
Mr Heib said despite the damage, he had been blown away by the local support and is determined to rebuild and improve the park's flood defences for the future.
Ms Buckley said it had been "the hardest time", but the community had come together for the clean-up.
"People have a resilience about them," she said.
