Police have urged motorists not to drive into flooded roadways after the body of a missing man was found in his submerged vehicle in NSW’s central west.
The death of the 46-year-old comes as much of NSW braces for further deluges, with more than 100 flood warnings in place.
Police said the man was last seen at Essington, about 45km south of Bathurst, around 11am on Sunday, with a search launched when he failed to return home on Monday.
About 10.30am on Tuesday a police helicopter crew located his vehicle fully submerged in the Campbells River at Sewells Creek Road, Charlton, and SES crews recovered the vehicle with the man’s body inside.
“Motorists are reminded not to drive into any roadways that are covered by water due to the dangers of becoming trapped – if it’s flooded, forget it,” police said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
Parts of already sodden NSW await further rainfall of up to 65mm by the end of the week.
The Bureau of Meteorology says a trough approaching from the west of NSW is expected to bring rain and thunderstorms to the central and southern inland on Thursday and Friday as it crosses the state.
The rainfall may cause renewed flooding along rivers in parts of Central West and South West catchments from Friday, many of which are experiencing ongoing flooding due to previous rainfall in recent months.
Rainfall will drop from late Wednesday, persisting on Thursday, with six-hourly rain totals between 30-50mm, and possibly reaching up to 65mm.
SES volunteers have responded to more than 1000 calls for help since Friday evening, including 155 in the past 24 hours, and conducted six rescues.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke on Tuesday said concern for remote communities was high as the “widespread” weather system hits the state on Wednesday.
“The SES is concerned about many of our rural, regional and remote communities … in Nyngan, Warren, Wee Waa, Gunnedah, Moree, Bathurst and Forbes,” Ms Cooke said
But she said emergency personnel are now better prepared than they were before the previous floods in March.
She noted 1300 extra volunteers had been added to the emergency service, call-taking capacity has been beefed up, a three-tier simple warning system for residents has been put in place, and up to 14 night-time helicopters for the state are on stand-by.
Numerous rivers are at major flood levels, particularly in the north and west of the state.
Last month was the fifth highest rainfall on record for Australia as a whole and above average for most of the country, according to the BoM.
© AAP 2022
