Exhausted communities along the rain-soaked NSW coastline are facing a massive clean-up operation while others are bracing for more flooding and severe weather.
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On Sydney's north-western fringe, new evacuation orders were issued on Thursday morning.
And low-lying parts of Gloucester on the mid-North Coast were told they may need evacuate due to flash flooding, including from the central business district.
Nearly 300 schools across the state were closed due to the wild weather, including 204 public schools, 64 independent schools and 27 Catholic schools.
Dozens of roads remain closed due to flooding and landslides.
North-west of Sydney at Richmond and Windsor, where the Hawkesbury River on Wednesday submerged homes, businesses, farmland, and parks, locals breathed a sigh of relief when the river peaked at 12 metres. This was just shy of the March 2021 peak which devastated the region.
But in other parts of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, new flood evacuation orders were issued on Thursday.
Cumberland Reach and Lower Portland residents were told to immediately move to higher ground, while Wisemans Ferry residents were asked to prepare to leave.
In other areas of NSW, including in southern Sydney, communities were given the "all clear" to return overnight.
"You should continue to monitor your local conditions and remain alert," the SES said in a Facebook post. "Drive slowly, obey all roadblocks and never drive through floodwaters."
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says more rain is on the way.
An east coast low off the mid-North Coast is pushing a persistent wall of rain onshore, but a severe weather warning for Newcastle to Taree was cancelled.
Most flooded rivers were steady or falling, but a number of flood warnings remained in place, including for the Bellinger, Tweed, Manning, Gloucester, Manning, and Hawkesbury, Nepean, Myall rivers, as well as Tuggerah Lake.
There is a hazardous surf warning for most of the NSW coast.
In flood-ravaged Lismore on the Northern Rivers and parts of south-east Queensland, residents have begun to count the cost of the damage.
As of Wednesday afternoon, around 52,000 claims for disaster recovery financial aid had been lodged with the federal government - and paid - in the three days since Monday, Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds said.
The claims amounted to more than $62.7 million in payments and allowances.
