Highest flood on record in Taree on Mid-North Coast, Halloran family stranded for hours

Dramatic footage shows the moments residents were winched to safety from record-breaking floodwaters on the state’s Mid-North Coast. Watch it here.

A young family stranded on the top floor of their home near Taree on the state’s Mid-North Coast in record breaking floodwaters have recounted their agonising wait to be rescued after waiting for the SES for more than six hours.

The mother and her two-year-old son have since been winched to safety by a rescue chopper and soon after the father and two dogs saved by an SES boat.

Sam and Jordan Halloran and their two-year-old son Zaphyr made call-outs on social media to be rescued as the water rose around their Glenthorne property on Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of people responded to the posts and frantically tagged SES before a chopper was flown in to save the family.

Jordan, Sam and Zaphyr Halloran have been stranded at their Glenthorne home for hours. Picture: Facebook

A rescue operation is underway at the Halloran home. Picture: Sam Halloran

It comes after Mr Halloran posted a video to Facebook at 8am showing brown, murky floodwaters surging around their home.

From the top floor, the video shows their cars are completely submerged in the front yard.

“Is there someone with a boat that can … come and get my wife and little boy in Glenthorne before our top floor goes under? (We’ve) been waiting for 6.5 hrs,” he wrote in a separate post.

In the wake of the rescue, Ms Halloran told the ABC the weather was “unpredictable” and “I didn’t expect this amount of water”.

“In the 2021 floods, there may have been maybe a foot of water through the bottom storey of this house,” she said.

Cow at Taree Liquorland on Wednesday morning. Picture: Facebook/ Taiman James.

Taree woke to its highest flood on record on Wednesday with more than 16,000 people expected to be isolated as rivers reach record flood levels on the NSW Mid-North Coast, forcing residents to seeking refuge on their roofs.

SES spokesman Andrew Edmunds said the organisation believed 52 people were trapped by floodwater at Glenthorne.

Flooding further south in the Hunter Region – Fitzgerald bridge at Raymond Terrace on Wednesday May 21, 2025. Flooding has inundated the town. Credit: Facebook/Andrew Smee

Several dramatic rescues have already taken place – in one of the more significant incidents overnight, 24 people had to be rescued from the flooded Pacific Highway at Ghini Ghini.

In the 24 hours prior to 6am, NSW SES had responded to 892 incidents, including 130 flood rescues, with the bulk of these in the Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne areas.

The Manning River is flooding at a level never seen before, surpassing the 1929 record of six metres according to the NSW SES.

In some locations people have been urged to move to higher ground, as rising floodwater and treacherous conditions are making rescues difficult to undertake.

Flood water just under Martin Bridge. Picture: Facebook/Stan Groves.

When asked about why residents waited hours to be rescued, NSW Premier Chris Minns said he had made inquiries with the SES Commissioner about the situation.

“Emergency services will make every attempt to try and rescue people, particularly in desperate situations and my understanding is that many of the flood rescues in the last few hours have had to use helicopters, because the water flowing through those communities is just too strong,” Mr Minns said.

“We’ve got professional people that are willing to put their own lives in danger to rescue somebody else, and I know that they’re making their very best efforts, but it’ll be a difficult 24 hours in the days ahead.

“As a general message, it’s still incredibly important that communities listen to evacuation orders.”

Speaking at a press conference at midday Wednesday, NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing said the worst may be yet to come.

Cows have been seen washed up at Old Bar near Taree. Picture: Facebook/ Ebony O'Connor

Manning River just under Martin Bridge and over the riverside picnic areas on Wednesday morning, May 21, 2025. Picture: Facebook/Stan Groves.

“It is evolving, so we cannot say (flooding) is at a peak level at this stage,” he said.

“The flooding has plateaued and effectively what that means is we’re not seeing further increases or rises in the current flooding … but that’s dependent on how much rain continues to fall and how slow or fast the system moves.”

Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib described the situation as “volatile” and said rescues remained the top priority when asked about whether damage assessments would begin.

“For those people at the moment who are isolated, for those people waiting on rescues, we are throwing everything that we have into a shoring we can get these rescues undertaken,” Mr Dib said.

“We have seen images of people on roofs, they are the priority and there has been over 16 rescues just since first light this morning, it is an absolute priority.”

The Pacific Highway is closed in both directions at Coopernook just north of Taree and motorists urged to avoid the area.

Further north the riverside town of Macksville in the Nambucca Valley is being hit by flooding. Picture: Facebook/ Ruth Flarrety.

The Pacific Highway is closed in both directions at Coopernook north of Taree. Picture: Live Traffic NSW

Authorities are warning more severe weather is on the way today with prolonged moderate to heavy rainfall from the Mid North Coast, through to Grafton.

Six-hourly rainfall totals between 100 and 140 mm are possible.

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

More to come

Originally published as Highest flood on record in Taree on Mid-North Coast, Halloran family stranded for hours