Instead of watching whales, cruise operator Anthony Heeney has his eyes on rubbish gushing down an engorged river as he prepares for more flooding.
"You can only do what you can do, and then it's a matter of just watch and wait and act if you need to," he told AAP from Port Macquarie on Thursday.
"There's just so much rubbish coming down the water and the water movement is unbelievable."
He was among Port Macquarie's 50,000 residents dealing with the effects of a low-pressure system that has dumped an unprecedented amount of rain over the mid-north coast of NSW this week.
Whale watching season was meant to start on Wednesday.
But he's been eyeing water gushing out of the city's Hastings River so fast, it's stopping ocean swells coming in.
It comes on the back of persistent rain since January.
"In 10 years, I've never seen it so wet, and as far as the tourism business goes, mate it's absolutely destroying us," he said.
"Everyone's struggling ... there's a lot of people that are hurting at the moment.
"It's pretty well going to be a month before we can make any money again, which sucks."
Government support, and tourists, will be essential to helping the industry back on its feet, he said, adding he was thankful things had not got as bad as in Taree.
"Those poor buggers are losing their houses."
Across town, Martin Baird is playing the waiting game watching Bureau of Meteorology radar on his iPad and heavy rain out his window.
The 72-year-old's wife has been stranded on Lord Howe Island since Wednesday after flood waters cut off access to the local airport which "always floods".
Roads around him have also been blocked off.
"You can't go north, you can't go south, you can't go west," Mr Baird told AAP.
"The North Shore is isolated because the ferries are closed and there is a long swampy flood plain behind it."
Port Macquarie Airport has recorded almost 400mm of rain this week, taking the regional city's year-to-date total to 1430mm.
The Hastings River is expected to remain above major flooding levels at Wauchope and Settlement Point, near the CBD, into Friday.
The mid-north coast floods have already claimed two lives, including a driver who perished 20km west of Port Macquarie.
Another two people are missing amid widespread flooding and heavy rain affecting tens of thousands in the wider region.
