Australia Weather News

A friend of a man feared drowned in floodwaters near Kyogle has told of "helplessly watching" the 72-year-old as he clung to a tree before being swept downstream.

Witnesses watched as the man's car was swept away in heavy rain, which hit parts of the NSW coast through to southern regions on Wednesday.

Police said emergency services were called to Larnook near Kyogle in northern NSW about 3:45pm after receiving reports a vehicle had been swept off a concrete causeway and into a creek.

The car overturned and witnesses said they saw the man climb from the car and hold onto a nearby tree, before he disappeared downstream into Leycester Creek.

The search was suspended due to poor light, but has now resumed about one kilometre downstream and in a four-kilometre radius in the air.

Larnook local and friend of the man Bo Kaan witnessed the incident and said he and others could do nothing but watch.

"He got out, he managed to get out of the car, then he got out of the door, I thought he might have climbed out of the window, he submerged, his head came up, we thought oh he's great he's holding on to the tree," he said.

"He couldn't hold on any longer because it's really cold and it's moving hard and he's 72years old, even though he's fit and strong.

"We watched him go down the river and we watched him go all the way around the bend here."

Mr Kaan said his friend misjudged the edge of the causeway and no-one could reach him.

"I'm going 'no don't do this', and then we just watched helplessly ... what could we do?" he said.

"We were on the other side of the river, people over here had a three-metre rachet strap and they were over here somewhere, there was nothing anyone could do."

Inspector Craig Ahrens said it was a stark reminder about the danger posed by floodwaters.

"This is just a tragic outcome at this point in time. A person missing, a loved one of a family, a father. Just tragic circumstances," he said.

"Just not worth the risk or the danger that floodwaters can put people's lives in."

SES spokesman Greg Newton urged people not to drive through floodwaters, particularly in northern NSW.

"We've had heavy rainfall right through coastal NSW and into the inland," he said.

"[This morning an] SES crew in the Tamworth area has been activated to a flood rescue of a van trapped in floods and in the last couple of hours also had crews rescue a truck driver from a truck.

"Very frustrating for our crews with people continuing to take their vehicles into floodwater and put themselves at risk."

Calls for help in Sydney after heavy rain

He said Sydney was also hit with heavy rain in some parts of the city and there were about 70 calls for help since yesterday evening.

"We did have heavy rainfall through the day yesterday and through last night and some areas of flash flooding. Obviously some of that water is more than deep enough to cause vehicles to become trapped," he said.

SES spokeswoman Becky Gollings said a truck driver was rescued from flash flooding at Schofields in Sydney's west.

"They thankfully have been able to pull the driver out of the truck and get him to safety, which is good news, so he is safe and well," he said.

Ms Gollings said there were was no significant damage around Sydney.

"We're still seeing a lot of the damage reported overnight around the southern suburbs of Sydney places like Sutherland, Bexley also in the Eastern suburbs, around places like Waverley," she said.

"But thankfully we aren't seeing anything too significant in terms of damage. It's mostly been for a few leaking roofs with the heavy rain."

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) spokesman Andrew Haigh said weather conditions were expected to ease.

"You can still expect some strong winds along the coastal fringe especially early in the day as that low moves away from the coast and that will gradually ease during the day and also expect the rain to ease and break up to showers as well," he said.