An emotional former police officer has confronted the NSW premier over the response to a flash flooding "tsunami" that decimated Eugowra.
One woman died, two men remain missing and the town's 750 residents are facing months of recovery after powerful flash flooding dislodged homes from foundations, overturned cars and left widespread debris on Monday morning.
Peter Jones, a Eugowra resident and former police officer, approached Premier Dominic Perrottet during his visit to the local SES on Friday.
Mr Jones grew emotional as he said help had not come quickly enough.
"A tsunami - that's exactly what it was," Mr Jones said angrily.
"It's taken us five days to get absolutely nowhere."
Mr Jones said Eugowra residents were let down by communications outages and a lack of emergency resources.
"We've had no food, no clothing, no one telling us what is going to happen next."
Mr Jones said evacuees sent to Orange would return to Eugowra with nowhere to live.
"If you're still in parliament next year, I want a personal date with you in your office or my house ... I've had a gutful," he said
Mr Perrottet said the government would follow up on his concerns and promised it would stand with flooded communities and support the rebuild.
"What I have seen, everywhere I go across the state is we get through it and we rebuild and the communities come back and they come back stronger," he said.
His government on Friday increased payments for affected farmers and said caravans would soon be brought in to re-home the town's evacuees.
"We will ... put people back on their home blocks, even if their home is not habitable, in a caravan if they so choose," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.
Telecommunications were re-established in Eugowra on Friday with a portable tower after the floods destroyed local infrastructure.
The cell, owned by Fire and Rescue NSW, was last used after a 2019 bushfire disaster in Rappville. It will operate for about two weeks, allowing major carriers time to repair their networks.
Eight central west and western NSW councils received a combined $15 million on Friday to begin road repairs and reconnect devastated towns.
It would allow them to deploy more crews, pay overtime and hire more equipment, Regional Roads Minister Sam Farraway said.
Meanwhile, flood-weary NSW residents have been warned to expect the disaster to continue into the new year as emergency services brace for more rain over already saturated inland catchments.
Major flooding is expected to continue along several major river systems on Friday, including the Lachlan, Darling and Murrumbidgee.
Condobolin and Euabalong are bracing for the worst after the Lachlan River rose beyond records set in 1952 while flooding in Forbes isn't expected to cease until early next week.
Bourke, on the Darling, is also expecting a flood peak on Monday near levels reached in 1998.
With some rivers in flood for the past six months, SES Chief Superintendent Ashley Sullivan said interstate and international help was on hand to relieve fatigued SES personnel.
"This flooding at this rate is anticipated to be around right through Christmas ... and right into the new year," he told ABC News.
The SES conducted five flood rescues across the central-west region in the 24 hours to Friday morning in addition to 244 other calls for assistance.
Much of the country's southeast would experience clear conditions on Friday morning before thunderstorms returned to western NSW in the evening and continued into Saturday, the weather bureau said.
© AAP 2022