Flood-affected New South Wales residents have been reminded to stay vigilant with flood levels in parts of the Hunter region still steady or falling slowly.
Although the sun has reappeared on the east coast of NSW today, there is still moderate flooding in the Hawkesbury Region, north of Sydney, with several communities still isolated.
Rivers are still swollen across the Hunter with major flooding at Bulga, and residents around Tuggerah Lakes and Wyong on the Central Coast are still inundated and cut off.
There are 67 evacuation orders currently in place across the state, affecting about 47,000 people.
About 50,000 people from flood-affected areas have been allowed to return home with caution.
State Emergency Service (SES) deputy commissioner Damien Johnston said flood rescues were still occurring, particularly around the Hunter, as people fail to heed warnings about driving through floodwaters.
Crews from the SES and Fire and Rescue NSW have also used boats to rescue families stranded on their properties.
At 10am on Friday a woman with her 11-month-old and three-year old children were rescued in a power boat from rising floodwaters on a farm near Raymond Terrace.
Mr Johnston also stressed the importance of being cautious when returning home as evacuation orders continue to lift.
"There are significant risks there with debris, contaminated waters, electrical hazards and the like. So please assess the risks," he said.
Premier Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke inspected flooding over Singleton and Maitland from a helicopter this morning.
They said the scenes demonstrated just how far the state had to go.
"The enormity of the challenge in front of us, not just for local communities but governments, to make sure we get our communities back on track was not lost on me. It's going to require, as it has in the past, a major effort," Mr Perrottet said.
More natural disaster declarations were made last night, unlocking more support for communities, and the Premier said disaster management agency Resilience NSW would soon set up operation centres in affected regions.
"I don't want any community to miss out [on disaster relief]," Mr Perrottet said.
Speaking in Maitland, the Premier also made extensive comments about raising the Warragamba Dam wall — a controversial project that has been debated for decades.
He said the NSW government had presented a business case to the federal government and hoped to share the cost of the project, which was expected to cost billions.
The strategy recommends raising the dam wall by up to 17 metres to mitigate flooding in highly flood-prone areas of Western Sydney.
The proposal has long been criticised by environmental advocates and traditional owners as the extra inundation upstream would destroy Indigenous artefacts and bushland.
But Mr Perrottet said his government was "completely committed" to the project.
This afternoon Opposition Leader Chris Minns said he was "skeptical" about raising the dam wall and accused the government of not allocating any money in the budget towards the project.
He said there were many other solutions to help those in flood prone areas.
"We need to make sure that evacuation routes and the infrastructure that's required for Western Sydney is actually committed to these communities ... we've been told repeatedly by the former deputy commissioner of the SES that evacuation routes for communities in the Hawkesbury and the Penrith region are not up to scratch," Mr Minns said.
