A man has died in floodwaters southwest of Sydney as continued flooding after days of torrential rain prompts fresh evacuation orders across the city.
The 68-year-old man was found in a submerged van at Cobbity before 8am on Friday.
His body was retrieved about 1pm following an operation by police divers and the SES but he is yet to be formally identified.
On Friday afternoon residents in Sackville North, parts of Ebenezer, Leets Vale and Pitt Town Bottoms were told to evacuate due to rising floodwaters, adding to a total list of 13 orders to leave in 11 different suburbs.
Residents in Chipping Norton, Woronora and Bonnet Bay in Sydney's southwest have been given the all clear to return home after being ordered to evacuate on Thursday.
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is being monitored, after moderate flooding at North Richmond, Windsor, Menangle, Camden and Wallacia on Friday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said it observed levels were falling on Friday evening.
Minor flood levels had also peaked at Penrith and Sackville on Friday but remained steady on Friday afternoon, and water continues to spill at Warragamba Dam.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said close to 2400 people were subject to evacuation orders on Friday morning, with more than 17,000 in the warning areas.
"Despite the substantial flooding that we've seen across our state, what is incredibly pleasing has been that we've only lost a very few amount of lives, and that has occurred because of the efforts that everyone has made across our state in following the instructions of the SES," Mr Perrottet said, before news that the man's body had been discovered.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said the state had flood fatigue but people needed to keep following the advice of emergency services.
"It will stop raining, it will get better," Ms Cooke said.
"We just need to keep (getting) through this one day at a time."
The BoM's Jane Golding said flooding would continue despite rain easing on Friday.
"We do have flood warnings current, though, so although the rain is easing ... the rivers will be moving quickly (and) there's a lot of debris flowing around," she said.
The SES received almost 1200 requests for assistance and conducted 35 rescues in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday.
"Across a population base the size that we had under warning areas, 35 is actually quite a low number and we are really grateful for the community for listening," NSW SES acting commissioner Daniel Austin said.
More than 1200 SES volunteers have been on the ground.
Some 155 public schools were closed Friday due to adverse weather, predominantly around Greater Sydney, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions, the NSW education department said.
Flood watches have been lifted for rivers in the Central and South Coast.
A major flood peak above levels seen during the April 1988 floods passed through Menangle on Thursday afternoon, and waters are falling in the area.
At Wallacia, the Nepean peaked on Friday morning at moderate flood levels, and waters are currently falling.
