As a second major flood threatens Lismore in a month, the mayor Steve Krieg said he felt numb.
"It's hard to put into words what has happened into words. I've been living on no sleep, for the second time in a month," Cr Krieg said.
He was critical of mixed messaging sent out yesterday about the need to evacuate.
The town was well prepared and evacuation orders had been issued in daylight hours for the Lismore CBD North and South Lismore, Girards Hill, the Basin, and low lying areas of East Lismore.
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But in the afternoon, people in some of those areas were told it was safe to return, only to be told to evacuate again in the middle of the night.
"I think there has been a lot of confusion about what happened in the last 18 hours," Cr Krieg said.
"The Evacuation Order for the CBD was issued for 4pm, then lifted at 4.30pm. Within half an hour, there was a dramatic change."
He said changing the directive, then ordering an evacuation in the middle of the night caused a lot of confusion, stress and worry.
"There was a lack of direction and a lack of authority. The SES or BOM, someone needs to make a clear decision, to give people clarity," Cr Krieg said.
"The 4pm Evacuation Order should have held firm."
He said the SES gives evacuation orders on advice from the Bureau of Meteorology.
"We just need to do better," he said.
The mayor understands exactly what the people of Lismore are going through - his own home and business are on the verge of being inundated again..
"If the rain stopped right now, we'll be ok, but I think we're in a bit of trouble."
He said the people he had spoken to were very upset and distraught to be facing another disaster.
"The community can't believe this is happening to Lismore again. I don't know what to say or think, it's surreal."
He said 55 people were at the evacuation centre at Southern Cross University, well down on numbers from the February 28 flood.
Cr Krieg was meeting with emergency services to get a better idea of the future weather predictions, but said, "I don't think anyone knows, it's a bit of a guessing game".
The message he wanted to pass on to the community was to stay calm and listen to instructions given by emergency services on the ground.
"This is not the time for heroics."
He said he was taking his own advice to stay calm, and to focus on the job at hand, which was "cleaning up our city again".
