More deaths possible as floods leave ‘nowhere to go’
Alex Mitchell and Jack Gramenz |
Tens of thousands of Australians are isolated as devastating floods spurred by intense rainfall have turned deadly.
The discovery of the body of a 63-year-old man at Moto, south of Port Macquarie, was announced on Thursday morning as floods sweep NSW’s mid-north coast.
Police have also confirmed three people are missing.
Prolonged heavy rainfall is set to continue throughout Thursday, with Kempsey and Coffs Harbour among the communities on high alert for flash flooding.
Some 50,000 people have been warned they could be isolated on Thursday amid dozens of emergency warnings.
“We’re bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours,” Premier Chris Minns told reporters on Thursday morning.
“This natural disaster has been terrible for this community.
“It’s affected a wide number of people and tens of thousands of houses.”
He urged people to stop driving through floodwaters, with stranded drivers a key reason behind dozens of rescue requests to the SES.
The NSW SES said it had responded to 1023 incidents, including 339 flood rescues, in the 24 hours to 5am.
Many rescue requests in Taree, Glenthorne, Oxley Island and Moto remained outstanding.
“We’ve seen continual rainfall and very fast flowing rivers, which when combined with flooded roads have made it very difficult to access some isolated people,” SES Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said.
Kinne Ring, the mayor of Kempsey, where the Macleay River has overtopped a levee and is still rising, said she was concerned for residents and livestock.
“There’s just been a huge amount of rain in the last few days … there’s so much water around and nowhere to go,” she told ABC Radio National on Thursday.
Meteorologist Angus Hines said some weather stations had recorded 500 to 600mm for the week so far – “an incredible amount of rain”.
“Any time of year, anywhere around the country, that is going to cause significant flooding issues,” he told ABC 24.
The death in Moto, on the banks of the engorged Lansdowne River, was confirmed after emergency services were called to a flooded home about 3pm on Wednesday.
The mid-north coast and Hunter regions have been the worst impacted by the flooding in recent days, with tens of thousands of people isolated and hundreds requiring rescuing.
The deluge has spread to the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands as a slow-moving trough dumped rain along Australia’s east coast.
Falls between 200 and 300mm in the next 24 hours are likely and may lead to flash flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology warns, around the north coast communities of Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Woolgoolga, Sawtell and Dorrigo.
The bureau said the trough was expected to contract southwards on Thursday afternoon.
More than 130 warnings are in place, with local residents in the path of flooding urged to head to higher ground and evacuate if they can.
Evacuation centres have been set up at Dungog, Gloucester, Taree, Manning Point, Wingham, Bulahdelah, Tuncurry Beach, Kempsey and Port Macquarie.
Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said the Commonwealth was working with the NSW government to provide support in 16 local government areas.
The Insurance Council of Australia said the flooding could be catastrophic, with significant flooding in similar areas in 2022.
“We are closely monitoring the severe weather across the entire state,” council chief executive Andrew Hall said.
AAP
