The body of a 63-year-old man has been found inside a flooded home on NSW’s Mid North Coast of Australia, amid a severe weather crisis gripping the region.
7NEWS reports that several thousands of people are isolated, and hundreds have been rescued from disastrous flooding as intense rainfall continues.
The man body was found at a property on North Moto Road, in Moto about 3 pm local time on Wednesday.
The home was “impacted by flooding”, NSW Police said.
The affects of recent heavy rain has spread to the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands.
Falls between 200mm-300mm in 24 hours are possible and could create flash flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.
The trough is expected to begin to contract southwards on Thursday afternoon, the bureau said.
Some 115 warnings were in place on Wednesday night, with local residents in the path of flooding urged to head to higher ground and evacuate if they could.
Rescue conditions had been difficult and dangerous, especially during the night, SES Commissioner Michael Wassing said.
“I cannot stress enough that it is important to heed the warnings of evacuations,” he said.
“I cannot guarantee that our crews will be able to immediately rescue people.”
“Super saturated” river catchments were responding quickly to the rain.
“We continue to see localised flash flooding wherever there is intense rainfall,” Wassing said.
Flooding has cut off communities, with 48,000 people stranded.
The SES carried out more than 300 flood rescues on Wednesday, using helicopters to winch stranded residents off their roofs.
Volunteers have been door-knocking in high-risk areas and streets where every home has been cut off by floodwaters to check on remaining residents.
Farmers have lost livestock washed away by floodwaters.
Others are working to help get some of them back, taking to community Facebook pages to track down owners for cattle that have washed up on their properties.
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.
“These floods and severe weather are having a huge impact on communities,” she said.
The Insurance Council of Australia said the flooding could be catastrophic, with significant flooding in similar areas in 2022.
7NEWS
