People hanging from trees in Dapto among 70 local flood rescues

Those rescues included people left hanging from trees at Dapto and a driver and passenger rescued from fast-flowing waters in the suburb.

Edward Forbes was the Illawarra Division Commander over the wild weekend, in charge of coordinating the SES crews on the ground, as well as other emergency services like Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service.

"We had some people who did drive into flood waters or who got trapped in the flood waters and didn't see them because it did happen in the early hours before sunrise," Commander Forbes said.

"There were a lot of people that were trapped in their cars. We also had a rescue in Dapto, where two people were rescued from a tree. The SES and Fire and Rescue crews went out there to rescue them hanging from trees in fast-moving waters."

As of Sunday morning, there were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries as a result of the Saturday morning downpour.

"We were definitely lucky because of how sudden it was - we saw a lot of fast-moving water," he said.

"Illawarra is known for flash flooding - that's a flood risk that we've got here. It comes up very quickly and it goes away very quickly. Yesterday we did see the water not just sitting, it was also moving so cars were getting swept over the sides of the roads and things like that."

Even after the heavy rains stopped, there was still water moving as it flowed down from the escarpment for an hour or two, but the SES was able to get through most of the flooding jobs on the Saturday.

On Sunday, crews were out helping residents to clean up; removing furniture from houses and ensuring access before the home owners moved to working with their insurance companies.

"It really did impact the entire Illawarra," Commander Forbes said.

"In terms of the incidents we had, they were spread across the entire region from up in Helensburgh down to Kiama. We did see a particular impact in Woonona and Figtree where we saw a lot of jobs coming in and there are a lot of streets we're aware of that did have a lot of damage."

Commander Forbes praised the community effort that saw people turn out on Saturday morning to help flood-affected residents, as well as food outlets and coffee trucks offering free food and drink.

As the clean-up continued, he warned residents to take precautions when dealing with the flood residue as it could include overflow from sewer pipes which are designed with a release valve in the case of heavy flows.

He said people should wear gloves and masks and, if possible long pants and long-sleeved shirts. After finishing, they should shower thoroughly and also completely wash their clothes.