The search continues for an elderly man swept away by ‘raging’ floodwaters at a camping site on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
Police were initially called to Bretti Reserve on Thunderbolts Way at Bretti, 100 kilometres west of Taree, after the Barnard River broke its banks late in Saturday night.
A PolAir crew landed at the campground which was surrounded by floodwaters. Police were told an SUV towing a caravan had been swept into the floodwaters a short time earlier, when the elderly male driver reportedly attempted to cross a causeway.
An estimated 22 people were safe but unable to leave the campground. Floodwaters have since begun receding.
SES volunteers carrying out a medical resupply to an isolated resident near Casino over the weekend. PIC: NSW SES
NSW Police Inspector Nick Seddon told the ABC that searchers found the missing vehicles in the river on Sunday, but were unable to find the elderly driver.
“We were able to get into the car using police divers, the car was searched and the gentleman who was inside the car was not located,” he said. “Effectively what this means is he’s either been able to get out of the car while being swept away, or has been washed away by floodwaters … we’re hopeful that he has been able to get out of the car and onto the river bank.”
The ABC reports that, yesterday, teams from the SES, NSW Police and Rural Fire Service continued to search the area downstream from where the vehicles were found in the Barnard River.
Drones and police helicopter units were used to search areas that remain inaccessible due to flooding. Inspector Seddon said search efforts would continue.
Kerry Gawley. who has lived near Bretti Reserve for more than a decade, said the Barnard River rose to record heights.
“It’s risen to 8.4 metres, that’s the highest we’ve ever seen it,” she told the ABC. “It was just rushing and raging.”
Ms Gawley said she called emergency services after her husband saw a caravan floating downstream in floodwaters on Saturday evening.
“They just happened to turn around to see [the caravan] coming backwards,” she told the ABC. “Floodwater comes so fast, just a split second and you’re gone … he’s just got caught in the water and been washed all the way down.”
Authorities have renewed calls for motorists to avoid driving through floodwaters.
SES Chief Superintendent for the NSW North West Stuart Fisher told the ABC that volunteers were ‘getting six or seven flood rescues a day at the moment from people being silly’.
“[People are] trying to drive through floodwaters or going through areas where they’re getting bogged,” he said. “We just ask everyone to please do not attempt to go through floodwaters.”
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is continuing to respond to the impacts of heavy rain and damaging winds across the state, with river rises and flash flooding occurring in Northern, Western and Mid North Coast regions.
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