A Lismore resident has described how he, about 10 neighbours and three dogs spent hours on a roof when near-record flooding hit the northern NSW town.
James Lewry, 27, said the group spent six hours on a roof in the CBD, before friends came to the rescue on Friday afternoon.
He said he was forced to flee to the top of the factory after water rose to the ceiling of his two-storey house.
"They (waters) rose so quickly we couldn't really develop a steady plan as to what to do," he told AAP on Saturday.
"When that stuff sort of happened it was incredibly stressful and quite incredibly scary at points."
Two people have died in floodwaters in northern NSW after ex-cyclone Debbie dumped heavy rainfall over large parts of the state.
Mr Lewry said floodwater around his house was polluted by oil that had spilled from nearby businesses in the industrial area.
He said he used a car tyre floating past the house to move his dogs to the nearby roof.
But he was forced to swim through the oil to safety.
"The water around our house was actually black," he said.
"There were quite a lot of movements of currents... in all different directions."
The Wilsons River at Lismore peaked within a metre of the 1974 record of 12.2 metres on Friday but had dropped by about two metres by Saturday afternoon.
Mr Lewry said when he realised darkness was coming he requested help from friends who were at work.
The SES also arrived after his friends had started the rescue, he said.
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