Rain forecast raises holiday flash flood fears

Emergency services warn parents to take care after the body of a five-year-old boy was found inside a submerged ute as hundreds remain stranded in NSW central west.

A family has been filmed being rescued after their vehicle was swept away in floodwaters in NSW’s central west.

Rain is forecast in already saturated parts of NSW, sparking fears of potential flash flooding as families hit the road for the school holidays.

Emergency services are warning parents to take care after the body of five-year-old Jayden El Jer was found in a submerged ute over the weekend in central western NSW after his parents drove through a flooded creek bed.

Flooding continues in western and southern NSW and emergency services by Sunday night had received more than 110 calls for help and conducted six rescues.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said rain and isolated thunderstorms would start pushing across southern parts of NSW, particularly the Riverina district, before shifting east on Tuesday.

Ms Bradbury said rain would likely be comparatively low over the coming days but the risk of flooding remained due to heavy rain over the past few months.

“Even though the forecast might not have the really high numbers expected in the rainfall gauges, we just do really encourage everyone to just keep a close eye on the warning page,” she said. “Because further changes to those flood warnings are quite likely over the next few days.”

Hundreds of people remain stranded in their homes after flooding in the central west region in the past couple of days and 17 flood warnings are active across the state, including minor to major flood warnings for the Namoi and Gwydir rivers.

Gunnedah remained flooded after the Namoi River peaked at 8.24m on Saturday and NSW SES personnel were preparing to enter the northeastern town to conduct rapid impact assessments when floodwaters reside.

 

 

NSW SES incident controller Ben Pickup said parts of regional NSW remain inundated from heavy rain last week while communities including the towns of Wee Waa and Warren would likely remain isolated over the next few days.

“As a result of last week’s rainfall we’ve seen a lot of rural inundation and isolation as well as some isolated communities,” he said.

“Particularly Wee Waa and Warren, which will be isolated for a number of days yet.”

Emergency services are conducting aerial flights to check on the welfare of isolated residents and supplying essentials such as food, water and medicine.

A family were forced to leave Jayden El Jer behind in a car submerged in floodwaters after they tried to cross a flooded creek bed on McGrane Way near Tullamore on Friday night. His parents, Joseph El Jer and Pam Hadchity, were unable to remove the boy from the sinking vehicle after they rescued his siblings, Bachir, 1, and Valentina, 3.

Jayden El Jer on his 5th bday in March this year.

The four clung to trees until they were rescued by emergency services about 11pm on Friday night.

The five-year-old’s body was found inside the submerged ute at 3.20pm on Saturday and NSW police will prepare a report for the coroner.

The El Jers live in the western Sydney suburb of Granville but own a property in Tullamore.

The Daily Telegraph reports Ms Hadchity posted videos to social media platform Snapchat of the family driving through floodwaters and visiting Dubbo Zoo before the accident.

A number of homes remain cut off by the overflowing Lachlan River after a storm on Wednesday night.

As the rain continues to fall, flood warnings remain in place for some regions along the Castlereagh, Macquarie, Bogan and Murrumbidgee rivers.

Catchments in the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast regions have started to fall after flash flooding last week including the town of Lismore, which was devastated by floods in February and March.

Meteorologists are predicting NSW will experience a third La Nina weather event bringing heavy rains throughout spring and early summer.

Flooded roads near Tullamore, NSW. Picture: Jeremy Piper