THE MACQUARIE Region State Emergency Service (SES) was looking for "fresh" volunteers on Friday as heavy rain fell in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast of NSW.
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Eight teams comprising a total of 35 volunteers are still in the Hunter region, "tarping" roofs and removing tree debris.
They took over from 16 volunteers who rushed to the region as it was battered by the so-called "storm of the century" last week.
The second major weather event in NSW in less than two weeks had Macquarie region controller David Monk preparing for the possibility of having to send volunteers north.
Just returned from Maitland, where he served as night incident controller for the Hunter region, Mr Monk was looking to build another "out-of-area" taskforce but not at the cost of tired volunteers returning from the field.
"We may need to find fresh volunteers," he said.
"I dare say the ones coming back this time (from the Hunter) would be more than keen to go again, but it's a matter of managing fatigue levels.
"We really don't want to fatigue our people."
Finding fresh volunteers wasn't an easy exercise for the 27-year SES veteran and his staff.
"The majority of the volunteers that have already deployed are the ones available, the ones who can get the time off work,'" he said.
Mr Monk praised employers who let workers change into overalls and put into practice their training as SES volunteers.
"The SES is very grateful to the employers for letting them go," he said.
"It's an issue when employers won't let members assist. It makes it very difficult to help communities."
On Friday Mr Monk expected that the Macquarie region volunteers in the Hunter region would be dealing with low temperatures, wind and rain.
He praised them for their dedication and commitment, certain they would take the conditions in their stride.
"It will enable them to put all of their training into practice, which will provide them with even more experience," the region controller said.
Mr Monk said the teams had been eager to give Hunter region volunteers a break.
"Hunter, on a regular basis, provide us with out-of-area assistance when we get busy during floods," he said.
Mr Monk said the next deployment of volunteers would depend on "what happens up north".
An east coast low was expected to hit south-east Queensland on Friday afternoon before moving south to the Northern Rivers and the Mid-North Coast on Saturday.
Moderate to minor flooding may occur in rivers stretching from the Queensland border to Nelson Bay.
