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Thank you for reading our live coverage of the northern NSW flood disaster, which has prompted a large-scale emergency response amid record-breaking rainfall. I’m Angus Dalton.
With heavy rainfall expected to continue today, here’s what you need to know:
- The flood risk is intensifying in parts of northern NSW as extreme rainfall continues today.
- Grave fears are held for three people missing in floodwaters: a 60-year-old woman from Dorrigo, a 25-year-old man in Wauchope who may have driven into floodwaters and a 49-year-old man who reportedly walked into floodwaters.
- Authorities were in contact with a 63-year-old man before they found his body in a house in Moto, north of Taree.
- Over 500 people have been rescued by emergency services, and over 50,000 are expected to be isolated by rising waters.
- NSW Premier Chris Minns said the state is “bracing for more bad news over the next 24 hours”.
- In Kempsey, the Macleay River has breached the levee in the CBD, parts of the town are flooded and some people are running out of food and medicine, according to the mayor.
- Portions of Taree remain underwater after the Manning River reached its highest level on record.
- Sections of Port Macquarie are flooded, along with several other towns along the Hastings River.
- The federal government has activated disaster recovery allowances for the Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Dungog and MidCoast Council areas.
- Flood warnings have extended as far south as Sydney, with low-level warnings in place for North Richmond, South Camden and Menangle.
- Heavy rainfall is expected to last through the day for much of northern NSW, with up to 300mm predicted for some local areas.
A body has been discovered in floodwaters on the Mid North Coast, believed to be that of a man who went missing last night.
About 8.50pm yesterday police were called about four kilometres west of Wauchope, where a man in his 30s became stuck on a flooded road while driving. The search was suspended overnight after authorities couldn’t find the man or his vehicle.
After the search resumed this morning, a body was found about 8am near Rosewood. It’s believed to be that of the man reported missing, marking the flood disaster’s second death after a 63-year-old man was found dead in a home near Taree yesterday.
Police are investigating circumstances around the death of the man found in Rosewood and a report will be prepared for the Coroner.
In Smithtown, which lies north-east of Kempsey on the Macleay River, homes have been wrecked by floodwaters that are expected to rise later this afternoon.
Among those facing property damage is Kym Machin, whose bed and breakfast has been lashed by flooding that has exceeded four metres and threatens to rise as rain continues to batter the town.
Smithtown has experienced consistent rainfall for the past eight weeks. Machin concedes the latest damage to her property has dashed any hopes of short-term business.
Scenes from Smithtown, which has been battered by major flooding and is bracing for more bad weather.Credit: Facebook
“It’s rained here for eight weeks, so it’s been wet for a long time and I didn’t have any bookings,” Machin said.
“Smithtown isn’t a metropolis, it isn’t the centre of the world, so I didn’t expect tonnes of bookings, I expected public holidays and school breaks, but I probably won’t get any of that now … I’ve never seen it flood like this.”
Machin’s partner Ross Costanzo, who lives in a rural property in the neighbouring town of Old Station, thought the river had risen by more than a metre since this morning.
“The river is basically full; this morning it was high tide, and it’s still raining now, it’s still rising,” Costanzo said.
“We’re going to have water through the bottom of the house shortly, but it’s nothing compared to other people.”
The key areas at risk this afternoon include Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Kempsey and Dorrigo, and Katoomba is moving into the flood risk zone tomorrow, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Steve Bernasconi said at a press conference from Maitland this afternoon.
“We are still talking about a focus area on Kempsey and Dorrigo today,” Bernasconi said. “Six hourly totals of 100 to 150 millimetres remain possible, and up to 200 millimetres in 12 hours still remain possible.”
Flooding in Taree.Credit: Facebook
Several towns were hit with about half a metre of rain this week and a raft of records were smashed.
Between 500 and 600 millimetres of rain hit rain gauges at Merril Creek, Barrington Tops and Taree over three days, Bernasconi said.
“All of these are half a meter of rain in three days, which are records exceeding that most memorable March 2021 event.”
Notable rain totals over the last 24 hours include:
- 337 millimetres in Bellingen
- 329 millimetres in Moparrabah
- 231 millimetres in Coffs Harbour
Heavy rainfall is expected to ease off the Mid North Coast tomorrow but severe weather will start sweeping across the southern Hunter, Blue Mountains and the Southern Highlands, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Steve Bernasconi has just said at a press conference in Maitland alongside the premier.
“That coastal trough with a low-pressure system in it is currently near the Coffs coast and is drifting steadily southward. To the south of the trough is where we’ll see persistent and very moist onshore flow, and it’s generating this widespread rain, heavy showers, isolated thunderstorms, and continue to be the risk for the Mid North coast today.
“Conditions are expected, though, to improve later tonight, around midnight, for the Mid North coast, and the focus of that rainfall will then shift towards the Southern Highlands, the Blue Mountains and the southern parts of the Hunter region.”
He warned record-breaking river levels could peak again over coming days even as rain eases across flood affected areas.
Authorities who searched through the night for a woman missing in floodwaters have found her car but rescuers have yet to access the vehicle, NSW Police said this afternoon.
The 60-year-old woman was reportedly trapped in her four-wheel drive in Brooklana, west of Coffs Harbour, about 7.45pm yesterday. She was driving between Armidale and Coffs Harbour. She remains missing.
Separately, police officers and personnel from the NSW State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service and Fire & Rescue are searching for a 49-year-old man missing from Nymboida, about 40 kilometres south of Grafton.
Police were told he failed to return home after walking near a flooded road. The search was suspended overnight but continues today.
We are waiting for an update on another 34-year-old man also reportedly missing after driving through floodwaters.
Acting NSW Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell said this morning he held “grave fears” for the missing people.
We spoke to Taree barbershop owner Mustafa Al-Abboodi yesterday, who hopelessly watched his shop start to flood at 11pm on Tuesday.
His store was also badly affected by the 2021 flood shortly after he opened for business.
He’s just surveilled the damage brought on by the flood this time around, and it is disastrous: furniture, timber and couches are all ruined. Scores of hair wax tubs and other hair products are bobbing through the muddy water.
“It’s gone, it’s gone. The shop is gone,” he said. “We’re waiting for the water to go. What are we going to do?”
Warning: Graphic content
Simon Basile, 58, was taking his dogs for their daily walk on One Mile Beach near Forster when his friend spotted a dark shape in the surf about 300 metres from the shore.
“You could tell [it was dead], it was just bobbing in the ocean on the way in, the waves were pushing it in,” he said.
Basile took a photo of the dead cow’s tag to post on Facebook, hoping its owner would see the post. “A lot of the farmers don’t know what stock they have and what’s been lost.”
Others replied that they had seen dead cows wash up on Tuncurry Beach and Back Beach.
“It was pretty horrible, actually,” Basile said of finding the cow.
Basile runs the Great Lakes Surf School. His business has come to a complete standstill as the beaches are full of objects being washed up on the shore.
Alongside the cow was a bale of silage and a marker buoy from Forster Harbour.
Thank you for reading our live coverage of the northern NSW flood disaster, which has prompted a large-scale emergency response amid record-breaking rainfall. I’m Angus Dalton.
With heavy rainfall expected to continue today, here’s what you need to know:
- The flood risk is intensifying in parts of northern NSW as extreme rainfall continues today.
- Grave fears are held for three people missing in floodwaters: a 60-year-old woman from Dorrigo, a 25-year-old man in Wauchope who may have driven into floodwaters and a 49-year-old man who reportedly walked into floodwaters.
- Authorities were in contact with a 63-year-old man before they found his body in a house in Moto, north of Taree.
- Over 500 people have been rescued by emergency services, and over 50,000 are expected to be isolated by rising waters.
- NSW Premier Chris Minns said the state is “bracing for more bad news over the next 24 hours”.
- In Kempsey, the Macleay River has breached the levee in the CBD, parts of the town are flooded and some people are running out of food and medicine, according to the mayor.
- Portions of Taree remain underwater after the Manning River reached its highest level on record.
- Sections of Port Macquarie are flooded, along with several other towns along the Hastings River.
- The federal government has activated disaster recovery allowances for the Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Dungog and MidCoast Council areas.
- Flood warnings have extended as far south as Sydney, with low-level warnings in place for North Richmond, South Camden and Menangle.
- Heavy rainfall is expected to last through the day for much of northern NSW, with up to 300mm predicted for some local areas.
James Larking and Kerri-Ann Gimbert said it took one day to lose their home of 14 years in Pampoolah, east of Taree on the Mid North Coast.
“We’ve lost everything, but we’re alive, we’re safe, that’s the main thing,” Larking, 54, said.
James Larking (right), with the help of Dylan Smith. evacuates his flooded home in Pampoolah.Credit: Kate Geraghty
In past floods, the couple have received warning alerts on their phones. This time, they received nothing.
“We got a call at 12.30 the night before last from a friend who said, ‘Look outside, the water’s exceeded the last flood,’ ” Gimbert, 42, said.
Even though the last floods were deeper, the lack of warning meant they had no time to prepare.
James Larking, 54, at his flooded home in Pampoolah.Credit: Kate Geraghty
“It just seems like we’re forgotten out here,” Gimbert said, adding that it made her feel “like shit”.
“We could have been more prepared.”
As the floodwaters rose on their property, Larking and Gimbert swam in neck-deep water to get their animals to dry land. She said they saved the deer and donkeys but have lost everything else.
Kerri-Ann Gimbert at her neighbour’s property in Pampoolah where her deer have sought refuge. Her home has been flooded. Credit: Kate Geraghty
“You don’t know what’s in those waters, but you’ve just got to do it,” Gimbert said. With their home and property flooded, the couple carried their belongings to their car and drove to their nearest family in Port Stephens. Every day they will drive back to feed their animals.
“I’m hoping the worst is over,” she said.
Deer belonging to Kerri-Ann Gimbert retreat to high ground in a paddock surrounded by floodwaters.Credit: Kate Geraghty
