The small village of Carroll flooded and residents had to choose whether to leave or stay

"It broke the banks where it never broke the banks before," he said.

He has experienced every flood since '64 - but this one "really made a mess".

He didn't have much time to get possessions to higher ground - he's lost lawn mowers and electrical gear.

Major flooding is occurring on the Namoi River at Gunnedah, and releases from Keepit Dam peaked on Saturday night.

Carroll residents were told to evacuate to alternative accommodation or the evacuation centre in Tamworth.

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Residents were allowed by the SES to return home on Monday morning.

Mr Clare chose to stay at home on Saturday night and wait it out.

"It was not much sleep that night, but up and down all night checking the levels and that," he said.

"Up til three o'clock in the morning, it stabilised itself a bit and then it had gone down half an inch by five o'clock.

"Knew it was pretty right then."

As soon as Shaun Cross heard water was heading to Carroll, he got the bikes, buggies and mowers out of the shed, and evacuated to Tamworth to stay with family.

It was stressful to leave his things behind.

"There's a bit of anxiety from not being in town and not knowing what's going on out here," he said.

He said residents were told Keepit Dam might cross the emergency spillway.

He put everything valuable in a container and got his eight-year-old son out of harm's way.

Paul Hinshelwood said the flood was a "cracker".

He chose not to evacuate, but stay home to look after his dogs and chickens.

The most he could do was take his personal belongings to safety.

"Nothing more you can do [than] sit there and just watch it happen," he said.

"It didn't really bother me that much, because there's nothing you do about it.

"It's different if there's something you can do about it, but you can't."

He didn't consider moving items that were stored on top of a fridge that floated and fell.

"A couple of things I didn't think about, but I'll just sit back now and think what I can do differently next time."

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