Third person presumed missing in deadly NSW flood event

Police have launched a public appeal to identify a third person presumed missing in deadly NSW floods, with locals unable to account for a body seen in floodwaters.

Police have launched a public appeal to identify a third person missing, presumed drowned, in the ­flooded NSW town of ­Eugowra.

A police officer was helping an elderly woman trapped in floodwaters in the small central west town on Monday when she saw the body of a man in the water. The officer was unable to leave the woman, and she lost sight of the body.

The sighting comes as police continue to search for another man, 85-year-old Ljubisa “Les” Vugec. The body of a 60-year-old woman was recovered on Wednesday.

With no further missing persons reported in the area, and ­extensive inquiries coming up short, police launched an appeal to identify the latest person.

The man sighted was ­described as being aged in his 20s, with a slim build and fair hair. Police urged anyone who knows of a man who is unaccounted for to contact Crime Stoppers.

Authorities had inspected 284 properties in Eugowra as of Thursday morning – more than half of the town’s 412 homes. ­

Between 300 and 500 homes in Forbes were inundated as the nearby Lachlan River peaked at 10.68m, just shy of a record set 70 years ago.

They included many of the same properties that were ­inundated when the town flooded two weeks ago, SES chief superintendent Ashley Sullivan said.

The body of missing resident Dianne Smith, 60, was recovered on Wednesday.

The search for fellow resident Ljubisa ‘Les’ Vugec, 85, is ongoing.

More than 110 warnings were active in NSW on Thursday afternoon, including 23 at the emergency evacuation level. The SES had responded to 268 ­requests for help in the 24 hours to 12pm, and performed seven rescues.

Specialist support was ­deployed to the NSW central west on Thursday, with an immense clean-up looming. An ­additional 200 Australian Defence Force personnel were ­deployed, as well as a team of 18 Singaporean flood rescue ­specialists.

“With our volunteers and emergency services personnel fatigued, we have for the first time in the SES history reached out internationally for ­additional support,” state Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said of the international arrivals. “We are so deeply ­grateful.”

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt conceded Labor’s $3bn flood fund could be inadequate in what had been a year of near-constant flooding.

“I think there’s a real appetite to get moving on this,” Senator Watt said of federal reforms to development in known flood zones.