A helping hand from fire crews and Defence Force personnel is accelerating the NSW flood clean-up and recovery.

Resilience NSW Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told Mark Levy of the 63 areas LGAs under the natural disaster declaration, 38 overlap with the 2019-20 bushfires.

The clean-up effort is “well and truly underway”, but the nature of this disaster is taking an additional physical and emotional toll on those affected.

“Without being insensitive in any way Mark, during a bushfire when homes burn down … there’s not a lot of debris left, there’s not a lot to salvage.

“But when homes are inundated … with water, you’ve got so much that is soiled and destroyed.

“Some things can be salvaged, but the bulking out of the waste is just enormous.”

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Image: Nine News