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Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit flood-impacted areas of northern NSW on Wednesday but he's unlikely to get a warm welcome, Barnaby Joyce says.

After finishing a week in COVID-19 isolation, Mr Morrison will travel to Lismore, one of the areas hardest hit by the devastating floods, where thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

The prime minister is expected to announce more funding to help rebuild communities impacted by the floods, with a focus on long-term reconstruction projects.

However, the deputy prime minister said Mr Morrison probably won't receive a warm welcome from locals during his visit.

"People are incredibly vulnerable, and it's understandable that they want to express that and the pain that they're going through," Mr Joyce told Sky News.

"I would be incredibly surprised if people got a happy reception, because they're not in a happy place, and they want to be heard."

Residents in Lismore and surrounding areas have criticised the government's handling of the crisis, calling the response too slow to help deal with the clean-up efforts.

There are 1800 ADF personnel on the ground in northern NSW assisting flood recovery efforts, with that number set to grow to 2500 by the end of the day.

Brigadier Robert Lording, who is on the ground in Lismore on Wednesday, told Sydney radio station 2GB that figure would increase to 4000 by week's end.

"The scale of this incident has been far bigger than anything we've potentially experienced in this area before," he said.

"It's a large logistics effort to get people up here, and importantly, it's a big logistics effort for us to get the money here and to be able to support them."

Mr Joyce said residents in flood-affected areas had not been let down by the government response or ADF rollout.

"It was an incredible circumstance ... we're fully aware, to be quite frank, I wanted to make sure that this is the time where people need to be heard the most, as the floodwaters go down," he said.

"I fully expect people to be incredibly upset and incredibly under pressure, that they would be tormented about what the future holds."

Opposition emergency management spokesman Murray Watt said residents in northern NSW had felt abandoned.

"If ... community members hadn't stepped up, then we would have been seeing a death toll in the hundreds of people," Senator Watt told ABC Radio.

"While people are grateful for the assistance they've had from the army, there's just nowhere near enough of it."

Senator Watt has urged the government to declare a national emergency for the flooding event, which would allow for the Commonwealth to deploy more resources and ADF support to impacted regions.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the response to the natural disaster could always be better.

"No disaster is the same, as I found from the bushfires and then into floods and into cyclones, but there's long-established protocols in whereby the states lead the process," he said.

"We stand ready, the defence force is there, and we need to make sure they're utilised the proper way and they don't get in the road."

There have been issues with physically getting ADF personnel into areas where access was limited or non-existent due to floodwaters and intense weather conditions.

As of Tuesday morning, more than $282 million in disaster payments to flood victims have been paid to 242,000 people.

Of that, $157 million has been paid to victims in NSW and $125 million in Queensland.

© AAP 2022

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will head to flood-devastated regions in northern NSW, as ADF personnel on the ground are set to double by the end of the week.

After finishing a week in COVID-19 isolation, Mr Morrison will travel to Lismore on Wednesday morning.

Lismore has been among the regional areas devastated by the floods, where four people have died, hundreds displaced and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.

The prime minister is expected to announce more funding to help rebuild communities, with a focus on long-term reconstruction projects.

"The flooding disaster across south-east Queensland and NSW is absolutely devastating," Mr Morrison tweeted on Tuesday.

"While the clean-up and recovery is well underway for some, many areas particularly around Lismore remain isolated ... and critical supplies being airlifted in."

There are 1800 ADF personnel on the ground in northern NSW assisting flood recovery efforts, with that number set to grow to 2500 by the end of the day.

Brigadier Robert Lording, who is on the ground in Lismore on Wednesday, told Sydney radio station 2GB that figure would increase to 4000 by week's end.

"The scale of this incident has been far bigger than anything we've potentially experienced in this area before," he said.

"It's a large logistics effort to get people up here, and importantly, it's a big logistics for us to get the money here and to be able to support them."

Residents in Lismore and surrounding areas have criticised the government's handling of the crisis, calling the response too slow to help deal with the clean-up efforts.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the prime minister wanted to see the impact of the floods in northern NSW, despite the frosty reception he could receive from locals.

"I'm sure the prime minister, whether he's clapped or booed, wants to be there to understand and to be able to fix the catastrophe that's unfolded," he told Sky News on Wednesday.

"That's his job and he's got to do it whether he's liked or not."

There have been issues with physically getting ADF personnel into areas where access was limited or non-existent due to floodwaters and intense weather conditions.

As of Tuesday morning, more than $282 million in disaster payments to flood victims have been paid to 242,000 people.

Of that, $157 million has been paid to victims in NSW and $125 million in Queensland.

© AAP 2022

The flood crisis gripping NSW has now claimed eight lives after two bodies were found in floodwaters in western Sydney, with tens of thousands of people also under evacuation orders after another day of unrelenting rain.

Residents of parts of Sydney that experienced flooding 12 months ago have been warned rivers could rise on Tuesday night and deliver worse conditions this time around.

Premier Dominic Perrottet says 40,000 people in NSW are under evacuation orders, including in dozens of suburbs around Greater Sydney, after the deluge on Tuesday.

Sydney's northern beaches copped the worst of the downpour, with more than 128mm of rain at Mosman in the six hours to 12.30pm, and 93mm of rain at Mona Vale over three hours on Tuesday afternoon.

About 2000 people in low-lying areas near Manly Dam in Sydney's north were warned to prepare to evacuate as the dam began spilling on Tuesday.

Footage shared to social media has shown water pooling in the Harbour Tunnel, parts of the shopping centre roof collapsing at Bondi Westfield, and cars trapped as heavy rain flooded parts of the Roseville Bridge.

The SES received more than 2500 calls for help in 24 hours and undertook about 200 flood rescues, mostly in Sydney.

The city has endured 16 consecutive days of rain, and no reprieve from the deluge is expected until Wednesday, with no sign of sun until Thursday.

Gusts of up to 90km/h are forecast, stretching south to the Illawarra region into Wednesday, and there is a risk the winds could topple trees and down powerlines.

About 4500 homes and businesses have already lost power after fallen trees hit powerlines during storms in Shoalhaven, the Illawarra and Southern Highlands south of Sydney.

Endeavour Energy said power would also be isolated at about 2000 homes in the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment.

The area in Sydney's west is experiencing floods as bad as or worse than those seen in March last year, the Bureau of Meteorology's Dean Narramore said on Tuesday afternoon.

The severity will depend on how much more rain falls in the next 12 hours.

Flooding worse than that of last year was already occurring on Tuesday afternoon in western Sydney on the Upper Nepean River at Menangle, and the Hawkesbury River at Lower Portland and Wisemans Ferry.

Worse than 2021 levels are also possible at North Richmond, Windsor and Sackville, the BOM warned.

The Hawkesbury could reach as high as 14.2 metres at North Richmond by Wednesday morning, with further rises possible along the river.

In the Hunter region, Bulga could on Wednesday morning see worse flooding than last year, with major flooding also likely to hit Singleton.

Several areas around the town were warned on Tuesday they needed to prepare to evacuate.

The deaths of two people killed in western Sydney have been called a "tragic reminder" for people to keep off the roads.

NSW Police Detective Superintendent Paul Devaney said the Wentworthville canal, where the bodies of a mother and son were found on Tuesday, "rose this morning from ankle deep to above neck height in a matter of minutes".

The victims are believed to be 67-year-old Hemalathasolhyr Satchithananthamand and her 34-year-old son Bramooth who had been missing in the area after their car was found in the stormwater canal on Monday.

Efforts to recover the bodies were hampered by the weather in an operation that involved police divers, the rescue squad, assistance from the State Emergency Service and PolAir.

The first body was found about 1.4 kilometres from the car, and the second about 900 metres further away.

More than 30,000 insurance claims have been filed around NSW, the Insurance Council of Australia said, with the expected cost of the floods in Queensland and NSW now approaching $1.5 billion.

Some could be waiting weeks to have their claims assessed.

© AAP 2022