By the time Jessica Rankin woke up to the sound of sirens, it was already too late.
As flooding in Lismore surged to record levels, the mother-of-two was one of many people in the northern NSW forced on to their roof in an attempt to escape the water.
When she got out of bed in the middle of the night, Ms Rankin says the Wilsons River — which broke the levee early this morning — was already "gushing up" to her home, which is raised.
"It was like rapids coming up under my house," she said.
"It was faster than the 2017 flood, it was extreme. Within half an hour it jumped up the six steps to my house, which is raised."
The Wilsons River has already reached a record high of more than 14 metres and is expected to peak later today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said there were "hundreds" of people still stranded in the area.
Ms Rankin's home is flooded and isolated, forcing her to move to the roof with her two daughters — the youngest of which is just 22 months old — and elderly father.
"It's freezing, I had to bring the little one back into the house [off the roof] … I am standing and the water is just below my breast and the baby is sitting on a chest of drawer floated upside down in the water," Ms Rankin said.
Ms Rankin said her father and other daughter remained on the carport roof "in the pelting rain".
"I don't know how my dad is going to survive because he's diabetic and has heart problems and he's shivering, he's turning purple.
"If I put my baby up on the roof is she going to get pneumonia and die? Are we all going to get sick and can't get anywhere? We don't know what to do?
"We don't know if help is on the way. I have been calling SES since the water inundated early this morning.
"I have people all around us, family everywhere who are trying to get someone out here to help us. We can hear boats around us, but they are not SES boats, we have heard there's people around us who are worse off than us … there's an elderly couple stuck in a roof cavity, trying to get out.
"We don't know if the SES is coming."
Lismore resident Katie Davis and her three children were another family who headed for the roof.
"We're not even the worst," Ms Davies said.
"It's rising rapidly, they need help desperately, every house on our street there's people perched on their roof."
Leeta Withma, who is visiting the area from Melbourne, said she was isolated in a South Lismore home with four other adults, three dogs and three cats.
She described the situation as "a nightmare".
"We're all sitting on the kitchen benches in a house on stilts where the water is now 14 metres from the ground," she said.
"We're sitting on benches and my feet are in the water. The fridge is just about to go over and fortunately, it's light."
The SES has carried out more than 500 flood rescues, and had more than 1,000 calls for help, including 408 in Lismore.
Ms Withma said the SES knew they were there but were "inundated" with other pleas for assistance.
"The dogs are sitting up on the kitchen bench. Look, it's just a nightmare, I'm sorry. We're all a bit frightened. We're very frightened," she said.
"I'm sitting on a table. My feet are in the water. There's nowhere to go. Once we've got about another six inches and we're all going to have to swim out. I don't know what we can do.
"People next door are on the roof. We're going to have to somehow get on the roof."
Farmers in the state's north are struggling to keep livestock safe.
Casino dairy farmer Terry Toohey stayed on his property to protect the herd but said many neighbours evacuated.
"I spoke to a farmer in the very early hours of this morning, and they moved as much as they could yesterday," Mr Toohey said.
"The dairy herd had to be milked, so they left them on the property, but lost those animals waking up this morning.
"It's very distressing for the farmers to see that happen."
At Couts Crossing just south of Grafton, Keri Ann Hollister said she has been isolated at their home on Kangaroo Creek Road since Thursday.
"We were lucky enough to get out Thursday morning and grab food supplies," she said.
"We've just got to sit tight, but it's getting a bit scary.
"There a big wind gusts that have come up this morning … It's such a loud noise it feels like a freight train."
