Emergency services will begin assessing damage to river towns near Sydney as floods recede and residents return home.

Flood warnings remain in place at the Hawkesbury River, where 600 residents in low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate on Friday night.

Residents of Pitt Town Bottoms, Camden and Ellis Lane were allowed to return on Sunday morning, but the NSW State Emergency Service is urging people to remain wary around the Hawkesbury Nepean catchment.

Minor flood warnings remain issued for the Hawkesbury River and St Georges Basin, with final warnings in place for the Hastings and Cooks rivers.

The immediate threat of more damaging rainfall has eased, with the Bureau of Meteorology not forecasting any further significant falls over the next few days.

“Our priority is to get people back to normal as soon as possible,” NSW SES Acting Commissioner Deb Platz said.

“We do not need to see significant rain to bring riverine and flash flooding … as we have saturated catchments and full dams the rivers can rise very quickly.”

Motorists in flood-affected areas are being urged to drive carefully, with damage expected to some buildings, roads and bridges.

The SES said it responded to almost 300 incidents in the 24 hours to 8am on Saturday including 13 flood rescues, and issued 45 warnings across the state.

– AAP