Chinese tourist missing in floodwaters as wild weather rips across NSW

Wild weather ripped across the state on Saturday night, causing severe thunderstorms on the Mid North Coast, heavy snow on the Northern Tablelands and flooding in the Hunter, where a Chinese tourist is still missing after being swept away in floodwater.

Emergency services are still searching for a woman in her 20s who had been the passenger in a Mini Countryman that attempted to cross floodwater at Black Creek, north of Cessnock, when it became stuck.

The 27-year-old driver managed to escape uninjured while her passenger was swept away. The women were Chinese nationals who had been visiting family in Australia and staying in Drummoyne.

SES members were called to the scene at about 7.50pm then discovered a 40-year-old man, not connected to the women, stuck up a tree having also been trapped in floodwater.

They attempted to rescue him, but he was swept further down the creek before they managed to pull him out.

The search for the woman was suspended overnight and is continuing on Sunday with help from members of the NSW Rural Fire Association and VRA Rescue.

NSW Police superintendent Steve Laksa said the water was two metres deep at the edge of the roadway, but the embankment on the edge of the road had a four-metre drop, so the water was effectively six metres in height.

“Even though it might look quite calm on top, we’ve got six metres of water rushing through that area and looking from the road you might not be aware of that,” Laksa said.

The hazardous conditions had also exposed emergency workers at the scene to danger, Laksa said.

“It was late at night, cold water, raining, very inclement weather, hard to see with the rain, so we’re probably fortunate it’s not worse, but it’s tragic as it is,” he said.

The incident was among 11 flood rescues mainly related to people stuck in vehicles after driving into floodwater, prompting a plea from the SES for people not to attempt to cross floodwater.

The State Emergency Service responded to 1455 incidents relating to rainfall, thunderstorms and snow, and emergency warnings are currently in place for parts of Scone due to flooding.

Major flooding is also anticipated for the Peel and Namoi Rivers at Tamworth, Gunnedah and Manilla, and moderate flooding on the Paterson and Williams rivers at Gostwyck Bridge, Dungog and Mill Dam Falls.

Rivers are still expected to rise throughout today and into Monday, and residents in parts of Scone, Dungog, Tamworth and Gunnedah have been warned to prepare to isolate.

In Sydney, lightning strikes caused the rugby Test match between the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions to be delayed for 40 minutes.

Rainfall is expected to decrease today, and the sun might even make an appearance by the middle of the day when up to 50,000 protesters against the war in Gaza are expected to march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Further north, Guyra and Armidale received 20 to 40 centimetres on Saturday afternoon, giving way to an outbreak of snowman-making activity and snow-clogged vehicles.

Glen Innes recorded its coldest day in 29 years of records, with a top of 4.1 degrees, while Inverell, Tamworth and Narrabri clocked up their coolest August days.

More than 100 vehicles became stuck in snow on the New England Highway, Waterfall Way, Norris Road and Grafton Road in circumstances where the SES was called to respond. Black ice also made for dangerous road conditions.

South-east Queensland received its first snow since 2015.

“It was more of a flurry than settling on the ground,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Miriam Bradbury said.

The highest rainfalls were recorded at Careys Peak in the upper Hunter (141mm) and Bulahdelah on the Mid North Coast (139mm). The strongest wind gusts were at Lord Howe Island (107km/h) and Norah Head (104km/h).

“There was fairly widespread rain from the Illawarra to the Mid North Coast, pushing inland along the Northern Tablelands, but the highest falls were really clustered across the Hunter and parts of the Mid North Coast,” Bradbury said.