Australia Weather News

A second person has been confirmed dead and two others remain missing as major flooding continues across the New South Wales Mid North Coast.

Police said emergency service crews found the body of a man in floodwaters this morning near Rosewood, 4 kilometres west of Wauchope. 

Authorities started searching for the man, who is believed to be in his 30s, on Wednesday night following reports he had become stuck in floodwaters while driving. 

It comes after police found the body of 63-year-old David Knowles in a flooded home on North Moto Road in Moto, north-east of Taree, on Wednesday afternoon.

State Emergency Service (SES) Commissioner Mike Wassing was asked at a media conference about reports that residents on North Moto Road had called the SES for help early on Wednesday, but ended up coordinating their own evacuation by boat when no-one arrived.

"I can't go into the exact details, but SES had been in contact with that male and police obviously had turned up as soon as his body was discovered," he said.

"I can't pre-empt all these things, but I understand that there may have been existing medical conditions.

"The coronial investigation will determine whether the floodwaters played a part in that deceased."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted his condolences following news of the 63-year-old's death, in a statement on social media.

"This is devastating news that a man has died at a residence impacted by flooding on the New South Wales Mid North Coast," he said.

"The thoughts of all Australians are with his loved ones and the community at this time."

Others still missing 

Multi-agency search efforts are continuing for two other people who have been reported missing. 

A 60-year-old woman is missing after her vehicle reportedly became trapped in floodwaters last night at Brooklana, 30km west of Coffs Harbour. 

Her vehicle was located this morning and emergency services are working to access the vehicle. 

A 49-year-old man is missing at Nymboida, south of Grafton, after he reportedly failed to return home last night after walking near a flooded roadway.

Flooding rain

Torrential rain has pelted the district over the last three days.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) gauge at Taree airport recorded 491 millimetres of rain over the last 72 hours.

About 330mm has fallen at Moparrabah, west of Kempsey, since 9am Wednesday.

Other intense falls include 286mm at Bellingin, and 218 at Thora.

A massive rescue operation is continuing across the NSW Mid North Coast, where thousands of residents remain isolated.

SES spokesperson Andrew Edmunds said emergency service crews had completed 379 flood rescues across the region since 5am on Wednesday, with more crews yet to go. 

"In some locations we still have very fast-flowing water, which makes it too dangerous to put boats on the water," he said.

"In other locations the rivers have risen too high for us to get vehicles in such as our high-clearance vehicles and of course if the weather doesn't allow us to use air assets, then that really does slow things down." 

NSW Premier Chris Minns told the ABC there was a "massive emergency service contingent on the Mid North Coast".

"There are 2,500 emergency service workers, including 2,200 SES volunteers and professionals that are onsite," he said.

"Over 500 vehicles and boats, 13 helicopters, hundreds of drones, so this is a major operation."

An estimated 50,000 people have been warned to prepare for isolations, as widespread areas of rain, with locally intense falls, have led to new evacuation warnings across much of the region.  

In the Kempsey CBD, floodwater from the Macleay River has overtopped the levee and is still rising. 

The SES is coordinating a multi-agency response on the ground to evacuate the area, which includes several hotels.

Major flooding is also expected to continue at Settlement Point, Macksville and Port Macquarie.

SES State Duty Commander, Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone, said in a statement that conditions overnight had been challenging.

He said people were still waiting to be rescued in Taree, Glenthorne, Oxley Island and Moto.  

"Our crews have been working through the night to complete flood rescues, but our message to people still awaiting rescue, is to remain in safe locations, away from flood waters in dry locations if possible,"  Assistant Commissioner Malone said.

Coffs Harbour resident Susanna Rixon-Seager said heavy rain caused flash flooding around her home on Grant Close, which backed onto a small creek.

She said more than 215mm of rain had fallen there since 9am Wednesday.

"We heard the heavy rain hitting around 5ish [this morning]," Ms Rixon-Seager said.

"So we looked out the window and we could see it coming up the driveway … there was no way of getting out of the house."

Ms Rixon-Seager said the water had receded and that her family was planning to stay at home for the rest of the day in accordance with SES instructions to avoid non-essential travel.

More rain, thousands without power

Widespread 24-hour rainfall totals of 100–150mm are forecast for Thursday, but higher localised totals of 200–300mm are expected in some areas. 

Locations which may be affected include Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Woolgoolga, Sawtell and Dorrigo. 

Essential Energy has reported that 5,300 businesses and homes are without power.

Mid North Coast operations manager Rob Ridley said the worst-affected areas were around Taree.

He said falling vegetation and rising floodwater had damaged powerlines and outages could last for days.

"With the floodwaters, we have got limited to access to even scope a lot of the faults," Mr Ridley said.

"We will be doing aerial patrols to get a bird's-eye view across the footprint, but we expect outages to go for a few more days yet."

Flood insurance

Taree insurance broker Jeremy Thornton told ABC News Radio that getting flood insurance was "impossible" in some parts of the region.

"There are only three companies we can use that do householders' [insurance] for our area," he said.

"Two of them didn't quote because of the postcode and the one that did quote — it was half their annual wage for the year to get insurance."

But Mr Thornton said the insurance companies were not to blame.

"It's just that this is what happens and it's happening too often," he said.

"They can't keep up and something's gotta give in that space."

Emergency warnings

• Parts of Fernbank Creek and Hibbard
• Bellinger River Tourist Park, Repton
• Low lying parts of Macksville, Nambucca & Waterfall Way
• Kempsey CBD
• Smithtown
• Settlement Point  
• Hibbard (Hastings River Drive)
• Wauchope  
• Parts of Manning  
• Parts of Paterson and Dungog
• Kinchela to Jerseyville
• Belmore Right Bank and Kinchela Left Bank
• Gladstone
• Redbank

• Parts of Wauchope (between King Creek and Stoney Creek Rd)
• Rawdon Island
• In Port Macquarie - North Shore, Limeburners Creek, and Riverside
• Oxley Island, Mitchells Island  
• Parts of Manning Point and Pampoolah
• Croki and surrounds including Moto
• Low lying areas of Bowraville
• Telegraph Point at The Hatch
• Blackmans Point 

• East Kempsey  
• Austral Eden  
• Parts of Gumma
• Low lying areas of Coopernook, Taree, Dumaresq Island and Wingham
• Low lying areas of Wingham

Evacuation centres 

Additional evacuation centres have opened, including at the Kempsey Showground. 

Across the state, centres are open at:

Disaster assistance

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has forecast heavy, locally intense rainfall for the Mid North Coast, and parts of the Northern Rivers, Hunter, Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains forecast districts on Thursday.

The weather system is likely to deepen into a low-pressure system late Thursday or early Friday, and is then expected to move south towards the Far South Coast by late Friday.

The federal and state governments yesterday activated disaster assistance for communities in 16 local government areas, including: