Police divers are searching for a father and son missing after their car crashed into a tree and ended up in a river, as heavy rain creates dangerous conditions.
Another son escaped and reached the riverbank after the car went into the Macdonald River at St Albans, northwest of Sydney, about midnight on Wednesday.
“Police divers are at the scene and making attempts to search for the vehicle and those occupants,” NSW Police Inspector Claudette Gebrael told reporters on Thursday.
“(The car) may have hit a tree to start with and then entered the water.”
The man who escaped is believed to be in his 20s. One of the missing men is of a similar age and the other is believed to be in his 50s.
“We believe that they’re sons and a father,” Insp Gebrael said.
The search comes as persistent heavy rain engulfs NSW and Queensland.
Sydney’s Observatory Hill station measured 82mm in the 24 hours to 9am – exceeding the August average in a day – while totals above 50mm were widespread along nearby coastal areas.
The NSW SES has warned motorists not to enter floodwaters, which may close roads.
SES deputy commissioner Debbie Platz said the agency conducted four flood rescues overnight and urged people to stay off the roads if they can.
“It’s a really dangerous situation,” she told ABC News on Thursday.
A man was rescued from a vehicle caught in floodwaters at Douglas Park, southwest of Sydney, while the agency had received almost 700 calls for assistance since the rain began.
It’s the latest severe weather event to hit NSW in recent months.
Ms Platz said the agency’s 11,000 volunteers involved in repeated responses do “extraordinary work”.
“They’re dedicated, they’re passionate, and they’ll just keep on going,” she said.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Helen Reid said the rain was likely to ease on Friday, before continuing through the weekend.
“However, we are likely to see the impacts of any flooding that develops continuing into next week,” she said.
“Due to the recent wet conditions, rivers across northeast NSW have responded quickly to the rainfall seen overnight.”
Flood watches are active around the mid-north coast, northwest slopes and Hunter region in NSW, with major flooding possible on the Gwydir and Namoi rivers.
Graziers have been warned that lambs and sheep exposed to the cold temperatures and downpours on Thursday may not survive.
Wet weather was expected to ease around inland areas as a low-pressure system moved away from the east coast, drawing the rain offshore, Ms Reid said.
Higher falls are expected closer to the coast.
Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast recorded more than 141 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday, with more than 146mm falling at nearby Lake Cathie.
Rainfall totals above 50mm were widespread in coastal parts of Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong.
More than 345mm of rain has fallen in three weeks in Sydney’s CBD, closing in on the city’s all-time August record of 482mm, set in 1998.
In southeast Queensland, North Stradbroke Island and parts of the Gold Coast received more than 50mm of rain, with Coombabah Creek recording 80mm in the 24 hours to 9am.
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