NSW communities count cost of flooding

Communities across northern NSW are assessing widespread damage to homes and roads on Saturday as easing weather conditions have led to floodwaters receding for the first time in five days.

But dire weather forecasts have emergency services braced for another possible round of inundations from Sunday, prompting local councils to call for urgent state government financial assistance.

"Things are getting back to normal and now it's just a case of getting around and cleaning up," Tweed Shire mayor Barry Longland told AAP.

Authorities were on Saturday monitoring a monsoon weather pattern moving south from Queensland and predicted to cross northern NSW early on Sunday.

Mr Longland said Tweed Shire Council, like other local authorities across the region, will ask the NSW government to declare a natural disaster zone, unlocking more funding for recovery work.

"We've got to make an assessment of the extent of the damage and try and put some sort of dollar figure on it," Mr Longland added.

Bellingen mayor Mark Troy added: "There will be significant damage to our road network."

"We are really hopeful that we will see a natural disaster declaration out of this."

Coffs Harbour mayor Keith Rhoades said his city escaped severe damage, partly because it had learned from previous floods with efficient sandbagging.

A spokesman for NSW emergency services minister Mike Gallacher said the government would wait for damage assessments to be completed, possibly on Monday or Tuesday, before declaring any disaster zones.

State Emergency Service spokesman Phil Campbell told AAP a monsoon weather pattern will move into northern NSW sometime on Sunday with potential for some heavy rain.

"Then there's the potential for a third weather system to come through later in the week that may deliver some rain both to the inland and possibly coastal regions," he added.

Swollen river systems began flooding communities between Taree and the Queensland border on Tuesday after days of heavy rain.

The SES said fewer than 2500 people were still isolated on Saturday afternoon - down from 12,000 on Friday evening.

There have been 54 rescues since the flooding began, the most recent of which occurred in Murwillumbah and Coffs Harbour.

There were also two rescues in Broken Hill, in the state's far west, after a severe thunderstorm caused flash flooding.