NSW's State Emergency Service says flooding could continue to affect the state's north for weeks, with Moree hard hit.
Moree, in the state's northwest, continues to bear the brunt of the inundations - though the town's mayor, Katrina Humphries, said on Friday night the water level was falling and rain had stopped.
'It is improving; the water's starting to go down very slowly,' she told AAP.
'Everyone's exhausted ... it's the emotional thing that makes people so weary and then the adrenaline stops pumping.
'I was looking at people on my way home, just talking to my council crew, and you look in their eyes and they're just exhausted.'
The Mehi River peaked on Friday morning, causing Moree's worst flooding in almost 60 years.
'As you fly over the centre of the town, there are streets that look like canals that have more relevance to Venice than northwestern NSW,' Premier Barry O'Farrell said after touring the area.
An SES spokesman said Moree's flood peak should fall early on Saturday morning.
Asked about the broader prognosis for northern NSW, the spokesman said: 'It's going to continue for weeks.'
NSW's flooding is being exacerbated by water moving down from parts of southern Queensland.
Amid all the tales of flooded homes, damaged roads and mass evacuations, there was still some lighthearted yarns.
'One young fella I know had water in his house and then they discover there's also this big deadly brown snake lurking in the water,' Ms Humphries said.
'It's right near them, but they don't panic. They just open the back door and let it out and off it swims.'
Ms Humphries also described travelling through Moree in a fire truck.
'The streets are deserted but outside the Post Office Hotel there's a kangaroo sitting outside the front of the pub ... just like an old drunk waiting for it to open.'
