In the badly-hit Hunter town of Dungog, families and friends are pulling together to help in the massive clean-up effort while insurance assessments on about 80 homes get under way.

Ken and Warren Cherry are helping their father Allen move out of his Alison Court unit, which was completely submerged in the flash flood. Allen's neighbour Colin Webb, 79, died when he became trapped by floodwater. Brian Wilson, 72, and Robyn Mcdonald, 70, who lived nearby, also died in floodwaters.

Larry Bridge, a truck driver who is unable to get to work outside Dungog, was helping other elderly residents of the units, all of whom will not be able to return to their homes until after full renovations.

"There's no point in sitting at home while all this is going on. They're too old to do it themselves," he said as he moved cars that are now consigned to the rubbish heap from Brown Street driveways.

More than 1400 Ausgrid "troops" reconnected electricity to 110,000 customers between Wednesday and Friday, by which time they still had 115,000 homes without power. Of those, 65,000  are in the Hunter, 10,000 in Sydney, and 40,000 on the Central Coast. Roads and Maritime Services have hauled 108 cubic metres of debris from Sydney Harbour, Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers since Tuesday and are urging people to avoid non-essential boating on flood-affected waterways this weekend.

Although thousands of felled trees have been moved out of harm's way, many are yet to be removed from roadsides and properties.

For some, storm-related problems are just beginning as floodwaters from higher ground begin to reach coastal areas.

Flooded roads in Newcastle were  a major concern on Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman from the Traffic Control Centre said. The Hunter region still had 60 sets of traffic lights out, with public transport badly affected, particularly in Maitland.

The extent of damage to cattle and local wildlife remains unclear. Fairfax Media saw a dead cow in flood waters beside the Pacific Highway near Hexham, while a resident of Glendon near Singleton described seeing a kangaroo "cartwheeling" as it was barrelled along by floodwaters.

While the water remains high in Glendon, friends of resident Geoffrey Shearer are bringing him food and water before their efforts turn to the clean-up.

"I had my porridge this morning – I won't go hungry," he laughed.

For those who are not as fortunate, donations of food and personal items are "desperately" needed by some welfare charities.

Despite not having a phone line for three days, Peter West, national co-ordinator of Aussie Care – the disaster relief arm of Ozzie Care –  in Thornton, near Maitland, has received hundreds of calls from councils and emergency services about families who have been left homeless or isolated by the floods.

"We haven't seen the worst yet, the flooding is getting worse in Maitland. The rain's stopped, but little towns around here need help desperately," he said.

Towns from Morpeth to Wollombi remain isolated and Mr West is calling for donations of toilet paper, nappies, hand towels and long life milk.

The scale of the aftermath of the storm is perhaps best told in numbers.

By early on Friday morning, 2123 NSW State Emergency Services personnel had worked 36,189 and a half hours since 10am on Monday. The team, most of whom are volunteers, has had 16,001 requests for assistance, with just over half so far completed. It has made 157 flood rescues and has taken 67 requests for food supplies and 21 for medical resupplies.

Support in the Hunter and Sydney Northern region includes 200 members of NSW Fire and rescue and Rural Fire Service and help from their Victoria, ACT, Queensland and South Australia counterparts.