Councils in NSW have been granted disaster assistance after floods damaged more than 60 homes in Greater Sydney and emergency services responded to more than 5000 incidents at the weekend. 

Evacuation orders were issued for suburbs along the Hawkesbury River yesterday morning after it reached a peak of 10.52 metres on Saturday night.  

The floods caused widespread damage in a short time frame, Acting Federal Minister for Emergency Management Catherine King says.

“The NSW Government is continuing to assess the damage and fully understand the impact of this disaster,” she said. “It’s important that we act quickly to activate disaster support so affected communities can begin their clean-up and recovery.” 

People have begun returning to their homes after evacuation orders were lifted in parts of Windsor, Richmond, Sackville and Pitt Town. Some major flood warnings remain in Queensland, including around the Warrego River, with major flooding expected at Cunnamulla towards the end of the week.

Parts of the South Coast train line were closed due to flood damage, and road closures in the Blue Mountains-Megalong Valley isolated hundreds of residents. 

 The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says it is monitoring the situation.  

“Our members are ready to assist impacted customers and respond to claims as needed. Those impacted should contact their insurer even if they don’t know the full extent of the damage, to get their claims process under way,” ICA told insuranceNEWS.com.au. 

"At this stage it is too early to determine the full impact of this weekend’s weather, but we will have a better understanding as customers lodge claims in the coming days.” 

Bureau of Meteorology Senior Meteorologist Sarah Scully says rain bands and thunderstorm lines fed into an upper low-pressure system, with the east coast of NSW “copping the brunt” of heavy rainfall. 

Sydney recorded more than 100mm on Friday night. The heaviest rainfall totals were about the Illawarra, with 200-250mm recorded. 

“The grounds have been really wet and saturated and that has led to both riverine and flash flooding,” Ms Scully said.  

Hawkesbury Mayor Sarah McMahon says more needs to be done to prevent flooding.

"We are angry that here we are for a seventh time ... in just a handful of years having another flood and we have no options on the table from the State Government about mitigation,” she said.