Search for man missing in floodwaters as severe weather hits Sydney

Rescuers are searching for a man whose car was swept into floodwaters west of Taree on Saturday night as severe weather and damaging winds hit Sydney and other parts of the state.

Emergency services were called to Bretti Reserve on Thunderbolts Way at Bretti, about 35km north of Gloucester and 100km west of Taree, after the Barnard River broke its banks shortly before 10pm.

An elderly man is missing in floodwaters after his car was swept away at Bretti Reserve, police say.Credit: Midcoast Council

Police say the elderly man was attempting to cross a causeway while leaving Bretti Reserve Campground when the SUV he was driving and the caravan it was towing were swept into the floodwaters.

By Sunday afternoon police had discovered the man’s car in floodwater but were yet to recover the vehicle, which will be inspected by police divers as the search for him continues.

During the operation overnight, rescuers found a group of 22 people stuck at the campground.

Emergency services were called to Bretti Reserve, about 35km north of Gloucester and 100km west of Taree, shortly before 10pm.Credit: NSW Police Force Aviation Command

A NSW Police spokesman said a PolAir crew landed at Bretti Reserve about 3am and confirmed the campers were safe and did not want to be evacuated. Floodwaters have since started to recede.

The Bureau of Meteorology cancelled a severe weather warning for damaging winds in Sydney, the Southern Ranges and the coast between Ulladulla and the Central Coast on Sunday afternoon.

Wild winds up to 90 kilometres an hour had hit the coast earlier in the day, ripping a roof off a house in Bundeena, Nine News reported.

A warning for gale-force winds and hazardous surf along the NSW coast remained in place. Bureau meteorologist Jonathan How said destructive winds and heavy rain were generated by a low-pressure system off the coast of Wollongong.

“We’ve seen gusts of about 90 kilometres an hour for both the Illawarra coast last night and also in southern parts of Sydney and this morning. We did see a wind gust of 98 kilometres an hour at Botany and more than 70 kilometres an hour along Sydney Harbour,” How said.

Rain, wind and a big swell at Bondi Beach. Credit: Edwina Pickles

“This low pressure system is generating very large waves as well along the southern and central NSW coast.

“What this means is that it will create dangerous conditions for those along the beach in the foreshore, including coastal erosion and very large waves offshore up to five meters, making things very dangerous out on the water.”

Flood warnings were issued for rivers across the state’s north-east and the Mid-North Coast as the NSW State Emergency Service prepared for another rain-making system to sweep across already swollen waterways on Wednesday.

Wet weather and strong winds have been forecast for Sydney on Sunday.Credit: Steven Siewert

The SES told remote communities in the Bourke Shire on the north-west border of NSW and Queensland to prepare for up to six weeks of isolation amid major flooding on the Paroo River.

Unprecedented flooding hit outback Queensland over the past week and people in some northern NSW communities could be trapped without power or hope of rescue as the floodwater flows south, the agency said.

Heavy rain smashed records in NSW including in opal mining town Lightning Ridge, which was lashed by four months’ worth of rainfall in a week.

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