NSW State Emergency Service (SES) commissioner Carlene York has defended a decision to reject offers of help from the army in the lead up to the state's flood crisis.
The state government has announced a $25 million mental health support program for people left traumatised by the natural disaster, as new media reports spark fresh scrutiny over the emergency response.
One report published on Sunday revealed an Australian Defence Force (ADF) representative twice contacted the SES on February 25, three days before the deadly flooding began, but were told they would not be required.
It also came to light that a number of private helicopter operators, which are contracted to be on stand-by for disasters, were either not called in or sent to other parts of the state while floodwaters submerged Lismore.
Ms York said the SES had carefully positioned resources around NSW in the days before the natural disaster, based on planning and advice from the Bureau of Meteorology.
She said when the ADF got in touch on February 25, flooding in the Northern Rivers region was predicted to be at "minor to moderate" levels.
But when it hit in the early hours of February 28, it was instead "above anything we have experienced in that area".
With extreme weather warnings across the state, Ms York said the SES were also anxious about the South Coast, explaining why a private helicopter capable of rescues was sent to Cooma and not Lismore.
"We were taking our advice from the Bureau of Meteorology and placing our resources where we believed they were needed," she said.
The commissioner also said when conditions deteriorated in and around Lismore, the weather was too dangerous to allow aircraft to perform rescues.
Ms York said she believed the SES had thoroughly planned for the event, saying it was "unfair" to criticise volunteers "putting their lives on the line every day to help the community".
"They are community members who have put their hand up, without payment, to risk their lives to help the community," she said.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet stood by the SES, saying he did not want there to be a sense in the community that there had been "failures" on the part of the organisation.
"There's no doubt that this event was not predicted," he said.
"But ultimately, as well, from my perspective I don't want anybody in our state to feel like they were isolated or abandoned."
Mr Perrottet has promised a thorough review of the preparation for and response to the event, which claimed at least five lives.
The Premier said part of that review would be why it took so long for ADF troops to hit the ground in the worst-hit areas.
"Well I would prefer to have as many troops on the ground as quickly as possible … but I don't want this to turn into New South Wales government at war with the Commonwealth," he said.
"This is not in many respects ADF core business."
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns labelled the reports, published in the Daily Telegraph and Sydney Morning Herald respectively, "deeply troubling".
"To me, and to many others, the disaster response itself looks like a disaster at the moment," he said.
"No one should have to beg for help from their own government. It should be supplied as part of the emergency response."
