Fitzroy Valley residents are working around the clock alongside emergency services to ensure people are safe and food supplies reach those in need as unprecedented flooding slams the area.

Authorities say an astonishing 60,000 cubic metres of water is flowing through Martuwarra/Fitzroy River a second, with enough water to supply the city of Perth for 20 years flowing each day.

Authorities are "confident" the river at Fitzroy Crossing peaked at 15.8 metres Thursday morning and will begin to go down.

However, all eyes now turn to communities down river.

Kamus Green in Junjuwa, around 1.5km out of town, told National Indigenous Times on Wednesday night that food supplies were "about a day or two away from running out".

"There are questions being asked about food and about fuel supplies for the power station," he said.

"People are struggling today. People are on edge, what is happening has never been experienced before.

"We were able to do a food shop when the shops were still open and now supplies are really low. People in this community were asking how can we get food."

Mr Green said that in the community Bayulu, 20 km east of Fitzroy Crossing, 50 members of his family live across 18 households.

"They were asking about food, they wanted to send me money so I could buy food for them and bring it in our boat," he said.

"I got on to 000 who put me through to police, who said you need to call SES. I rang SES and said 'I can't speak for everyone in Bayulu but I can speak for my family members… Their response is we are doing the best we can but it will be 24-48 hours before we can get food out to them."

Mr Green said he was sure other people in other communities are facing similar problems.

In terms of search and rescue he said authorities "have got a couple of choppers in the air constantly".

"And there is one 7m SES boat, I am not sure how many people they are picking up.

"DFES should have been driving into communities to see if they need food… Rather than telling people who are not tech savvy and have English as their second language that they need to register with the Red Cross to get food."

"There was a community gathering today at the rec centre, with one DFES representatives and no one from the hospital or health or police. They could be reassuring people, giving them a briefing, who have been evacuated from their homes.

"The army should have been here two days ago. We should have had enough supplies sorted."

He said residents would have been happy to work with DFES and contribute their local knowledge as well as labour to assist.

"We can assist them as they assist us."

Mr Green said the majority of rescues he was aware of had been carried out by "DFES/SES".

"With helicopters and boats, but they needed a local with his boat to lead and navigate them to the people who needed help," he said.

"We have also had local community members in their own boats helping out, everybody coming together to help out as much as we could."

On Thursday morning Jasmine Bedford in Fitzroy Crossing told National Indigenous Times she was "one of the lucky ones" to live on high ground.

"I have families coming here seeking refuge, it fluctuates on a nightly basis, it has been pretty hectic. That is really when it sank in, when I saw the amount of people in the evacuation centre," she said.

Ms Bedford's partner is the local who helped guide boat rescues.

"We had a meeting yesterday with the community. The response has been poor to our needs here in Fitzroy Crossing.

"The response should have been better coordinated and earlier, and the communication has been poor

"At the meeting yesterday, I could see the whole community is anxious and frustrated."

Ms Bedford said people seeking assistance in outer communities "have been relying on us in town" to speak up for them, and had been given a DFES number in Perth to call.

"Some communities have wifi but are having trouble ringing out.

"I understand that within DFES themselves they are communicating and having ground meetings, but we needed a contact person on the ground in town answering questions and keeping people informed

"The poor guy yesterday from DFES tried his best but he was not prepared for all the questions, emotions were running high, everyone there had just lost everything.

"There were questions for Main Roads, for power, the hospital, for police, and this poor guy was standing alone. There is another meeting on today (Thursday 11am), we said 'we expect those agencies to be alongside you because these questions are unanswered'," she said.

Ms Bedford said she and other local community members have been "out and about helping with the rescues" with their own boats.

She also expressed concerns about food supplies.

"Yesterday (Wednesday) there was a lot of food in the IGA before it closed and they have relocated the food to other facilities in town where that can store it. There is a vacant café with store rooms and cool rooms," she said.

"There is a shortage, speaking to people since Monday, they say food supplies would be getting dropped off by DFES, but I have not seen any food coming into town to date.

"People are asking how long will that IGA food last us, and not just people in FC I mean the whole Valley, and asking when can we expect food deliveries from DFES."

Ms Bedford said to her knowledge no food had been brought in yet from outside town.

"That may change today with the army personnel coming in with the aeroplanes," she said.

"There are a lot of people in need. There was tinned foot and dry food in the Shell roadhouse – Coles Express.

"My cousin put posts up online Monday and Tuesday and people have been donating, sending money to my account, so we have been using that buying whatever food we could from Coles Express.

"We didn't take it all because we were thinking of other people as well, we made food hampers with rice, almond and soy milk, noodles, tinned food, tinned soup, instant mash, crackers, toilet paper, wipes and nappies and other baby supplies for people we know have babies, and we distributed the hampers to about 20 families. Enough to fill their stomachs and hold them over until more food arrives," she said.

"We have been doing out bit. Yesterday they started doing food drops at outlying communities with the food from IGA, community members helped with Marra Worra Worra (the resource centre in town) delivering packs, got them out to the communities.

"Today they are going to develop a system that can monitor who needs food in the township. Yesterday the focus was on the getting food out to those who can't be in town like Bayulu.

"I hope it is coming today, it would be silly not to bring food in those big planes."

Ms Bedford said she was aware of local people hunting wallabies and cooking them for good.

"If food doesn't come in today, we are going to be in big trouble. People are going to be hungry, frustrated and angry."

She said she had expected a more coordinated approach with key decisions "made earlier on".

"I go to the evacuation centre every day to speak with people and give them some support, they have just lost everything. There were sleeping on blow-up floaties because they didn't have enough beds, we started with 25 beds in the centre and Marra Worra Worra got some more mattresses there, 20 more.

"The responses need to be quicker. There was no communication with local members of the community. When information was provided at yesterday's meeting I had about 10 people approach me afterwards and ask 'what did they say' because of the language barriers."

Ms Bedford said her phone had been "like a hotline" with calls and messages from people seeking information and requesting assistance.

"There is a pregnant woman in a community 15km away who hasn't been evacuated yet," she said.

"We started to rescue people straight away in our little tinny. They sought my partner's assistance all day to help them through the flood waters in a safe way.

"We need local people, in the future and now we need us there at the table, we need to be heard and listened to because we have lived and breathed this town all our lives."

Ms Bedford said that in the challenging circumstances she was proud of the way the communities have united.

"Despite the limited resources and support I am proud of this community, they are still in good spirits and helping each other with what we have got, I am proud of the community, we came together to make it happen. We, along with the volunteers, made sure people are safe.

A spokesperson for WA Minister for Emergency Services Stephen Dawson said there had been at least 39 separate rescues of people or parties.

"There definitely is work happening around food drops," she said on Thursday morning.

"There are two planes coming with 80 people each, one with 30 people, primarily being used to get people out of the three communities that are next to be inundated – Noonkanbah, Looma and Willare, where there is another bridge which Main Roads is keeping a close eye on."

"The Bureau said there is enough water flowing through the Fitzroy every day to supply the city of Perth's water needs for 20 years.

"60,000 cubic metres of water every second. The fastest moving body of water in an Australian river on record."

The river at Fitzroy Crossing has peaked at 15.8m.

The spokesperson said the main bridge over Martuwarra Fitzroy River, just outside the town, had never been engulfed before.

"It looks from the air like it has buckled… they have divers on standby in Perth waiting for the water level to subside so they can get in and have a look.

"Getting people out is the priority. A lot of people understandably are feeling anxious about the long term prospects and rebuilding.

"We need to get in there and assess the damage. Broome airport isn't technically closed but Qantas and the major carries said it is not safe to land even in Broome, which makes getting personnel up tricky, but hopefully the ADF will help with that today.

"Both carriers from the ADF for moving people are hopefully doing food drops as well."

The spokesperson said supermarkets were "on board" with helping to supply communities in need.

"Yesterday people wanted answers to all of their questions, they are working on making sure they have those answers for the community meeting today (11am).

"They are confident the river has peaked today, and will start to come down, all eyes are on the communities down river.

"They are expecting Willare to be at that high flood level next Monday or Tuesday."