Seven Armidale SES crew members, along with a storm response vehicle, a flood rescue vehicle and a boat, were deployed to Grafton on Tuesday afternoon to assist with flood resupplies, flood reconnaissance, sandbagging and roof repair jobs.

They were initially tasked to Casino, but due to all roads being blocked, they were redirected.

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"The response was all under the SES Northern Zone, with three incident control centres, and there is so much going," Armidale SES Operations Manager Jock Campbell said.

"The SES hasn't experienced anything like this ever. It covers such a broad area it is hard to coordinate resources to all those areas. It is a multi-agency response effort with Fire and Rescue, RFS, Maritime Services, the Defence Force and Volunteer Rescue Association.

"I'd describe it as on par with the devastation and community impact caused by the Black Summer bush fires."

The Clarence River at Grafton peaked at 7.66 metres early on Monday morning; however, the river is still in major flood and waste services throughout the region continue to be interrupted.

Grafton was reasonably quiet when the Armidale crew left on Friday and has so far avoided the devastation witnessed in Lismore, but our SES team will be required to help for weeks to come wherever they are needed.

"We've already got requests for deployment commencing next week and the following week," said Mr Campbell.

"So it looks like this will be a pretty long operation."

Read more: Major flooding continues with more rain forecast

NSW SES advises people not to drive through flooded waters or around the region.

Roads are crumbling in the region, and with masses of water and mud needing to be removed, Yamba Road is unlikely to open before the middle of next week.

On Friday, more than 600 additional emergency services crews from NSW SES and partner agencies assisted people across the Northern Rivers.

On top of this, 280 additional Australian Defence Force personnel arrived to help as operations moved from response to recovery.

Read more: Utter devastation, in 33 photos

Over 69,000 disaster payments have now been paid by the Federal Government to support people impacted by the floods, worth $83 million. Primary producers in NSW can register for recovery grants of up to $75,000 and small businesses up to $50,000.

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