The clean-up and recovery effort for flood-hit central NSW will be led by former NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Owens.
Premier Mike Baird announced the appointment in Forbes on Monday after authorities warned residents of the beleaguered town to expect "a long flood" with more rain forecast this week.
Hundreds of Forbes residents were evacuated on Sunday and it is not yet known when affected residents will be able to return to their homes.
Insurance Council of Australia CEO Rob Whelan said he expected damage from the flooding to cost "in the tens of millions of dollars".
The Lachlan River reached 10.65m in Forbes last night, surpassing the 1990 floods, with higher waters predicted to hit next week.
NSW State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers have begun assessing the damage to properties in the region.
The weather bureau forecast more rain to hit Forbes from Wednesday through to Friday, while a second, higher peak in the Lachlan River is predicted for next week near Condobolin and Euabalong.
Forbes SES controller Rocky Walshaw says some Forbes homes have been been flooded, but so far it hasn't been as bad as initially feared.
But he said the flood was unusual and it was difficult to predict when the water would subside.
"This water will stay here for a fair while at this level, it will slowly go down, but it will be a long flood," Mr Walshaw told ABC TV.
Farmer Wayne Dunford, who lives 35km north of the Lachlan River in the Forbes region, said road damage was a major concern for farmers and the shire is expected to struggle to afford to rebuild them quickly.
"The whole countryside is just glistening under the crops and in the pasture paddocks - it is just total saturation," he told AAP.
Since the rain began on August 30, the SES has received about 2900 calls for assistance and made 97 flood rescues.
Downstream at Condobolin, which is the next main town forecast to be affected, the army, Fire and Rescue NSW, Rural Fire Service and SES have been sandbagging in preparation.
