Flood disaster funding has been extended to a dozen more council areas in NSW, with the federal emergency management minister saying parts of the state remain in the grip of an emergency.
"The floodwater is receding in some areas, but we know there are other regions still in the emergency stage, where the focus remains on saving lives and keeping our communities safe," Bridget McKenzie said Friday.
The funding will now be accessible to local councils for Cessnock, Cumberland, Dungog, Goulburn Mulwaree, Lithgow, Maitland, Mid-Western, Muswellbrook, Queanbeyan Palerang, Singleton, Snowy Monaro and the Upper Hunter.
Flood affected people in those LGAs are eligible for one-off payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child.
Workers, small businesses and farmers who can demonstrate a loss of income are also eligible to apply for 13 weeks of assistance.
NSW Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke said the funds will help households, small businesses, farmers and local councils begin the recovery process, and the unprecedented disaster required "equally unprecedented resources".
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the priority in the Northern Rivers was on the clean-up, housing for flood victims and financial support.
The government sent the first of 120 motorhomes to northern NSW on Friday after flooding destroyed thousands of homes.
NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers are driving the motorhomes from Sydney, and the first 20 are expected to arrive by Sunday.
Some 1200 flood victims have received emergency accommodation after 5500 homes were assessed as damaged, about half of those uninhabitable.
The $10 million spent on motorhomes is part of a $551 million housing support package for 25,000 households, jointly funded by the state and federal government.
The package also includes funding for temporary housing and 16 weeks of rental support.
Some $90 million has been set aside for the clean-up across 28 local government areas.
The Insurance Council of Australia estimates 126,511 claims across Queensland and NSW would cost insurers $1.89 billion, however further claims are likely.
Claims have risen by more than seven per cent since Thursday.
Asked if he had urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to declare the Northern Rivers region a natural disaster zone sooner, Mr Perrottet said it was "only relevant to co-ordination at a commonwealth level".
"In NSW, we set up our state emergency operation centre immediately," the premier told Nine.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese questioned why it was taking the prime minister "days and days into this disaster" to declare a national emergency.
"The parliament gave the prime minister and the government powers to do that after the experience of the bushfires," he told the ABC from Lismore on Friday.
Mr Albanese said flood-affected Ballina residents had told him they were traumatised and having difficulty accessing government support.
One of the six recovery centres established in the flood-hit Northern Rivers is in Ballina, and is supposed to provide access to multiple government agencies in one location to make it easier for flood victims to access support.
Two recovery centres are set to open in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region in the coming days as floods recede there.
Ms Cooke has also announced the appointment of Resilience NSW Metropolitan Sydney director Dean Betts as recovery co-ordinator for the Hawkesbury-Nepean floods.
A woman in her 60s was flown to hospital from an Upper MacDonald property isolated by those floods on Friday after suffering a fall and injuring her leg.
Meanwhile, commuters face ongoing delays after the wild weather caused extensive damage to the train network across Greater Sydney.
There were landslips in Pymble, Casula and Emu Plains, and a sinkhole in Leura, with work taking place at more than 100 sites, Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said.
Flood levels on the Hawkesbury River began to recede on Friday morning and were at moderate river heights at North Richmond, Windsor, Sackville and Lower Portland, and minor heights at Wisemans Ferry.
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