Men missing after car ‘crashes’ into river as deluge intensifies

Rescuers are searching for two missing men after their car came off the road in bad weather and plunged into a NSW river.

The incident happened at the MacDonald River, St Albans, north of Sydney, at about 11.50pm Wednesday in wet conditions.

Police said three people were in the car when it “crashed” into the river.

One passenger in his 20s managed to escape the sunken vehicle and reach the riverbank in the dark.

He was assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics and required no further treatment.

Police have been told two other men were in the vehicle at the time of the crash. They are yet to be accounted for.

The State Emergency Service and NSW Rural Fire Service launched a search of the area for the missing men on Wednesday, which resumed on Thursday.

The crash happened as the east coast braces for an intensifying deluge on Thursday and Friday due to an “unpredictable, widespread” weather system.

The potential for flash flooding led authorities to repeat warnings to not drive through swamped roads.

Up to another 125 millimetres of rain is predicted to fall across a large swathe of regional NSW, including catchments that are already wet. 

The significant weather system will mostly hit on Thursday and Friday, before easing into the weekend. Flash flooding and renewed river rises are expected.

“What we have here is a significant rain event affecting most of the northeastern part of the state and the coastal areas,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Steve Bernasconi said.

“It will bring widespread, moderate-to-heavy rainfall, essentially from [Wednesday], but moving into Thursday and Friday before easing over the weekend.”

Weatherzone said the rain would intensify on Thursday, especially north of Sydney.

This could mean some extreme rainfall rates over parts of the NSW north coast and mid-north coast at times on Thursday, possibly extending as far south as Sydney and the Illawarra region.

NSW SES is preparing for calls for help to leap across the multiple regions by deploying aircraft, high-clearance vehicles and crews.

By 1.30pm on Wednesday, the SES had received more than 330 calls and responded to more than 120 incidents.

It follows extensive flooding in May in Taree that left homes destroyed and residents isolated for days, claiming five lives.

More flooding hit the mid-north coast and northern Hunter earlier in August, leaving tens of thousands of people without power and claiming one life.

Rivers affected in that event were still at elevated levels, NSW SES deputy commissioner Deb Platz said.

“We know that this year we’ve seen significant weather events, significant flooding and a lot of damage,” she said.

“We know that the community is tired — our volunteers are tired — but it’s important that you do a few simple steps to stay safe.”

-with AAP