Police have found the bodies of two men missing in a flooded river amid record rainfall in Sydney.
The pair, a father and son, were missing at St Albans, north-west of the city, after their vehicle crashed into the Macdonald River late on Wednesday.
A 24-year-old man, believed to be another son of the missing father, scrambled free of the car before it went into the river.
NSW Police Inspector Claudette Gebrael said police divers were at the scene on Thursday. The men’s vehicle was recovered shortly before midday.
“[The car] may have hit a tree to start with and then entered the water,” she said.
“We believe that they’re sons and a father,” Gebrael said.
NSW Police confirmed later on Thursday that two bodies had been found in the water. They are yet to be formally identified.
It was one of more than 500 incidents across NSW as Weatherzone reported Sydney had endured its wettest day of a very soggy year, with 82.4 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday. That is more than the city’s entire monthly average rainfall for August in a day and makes Wednesday Sydney’s wettest August day since 2007.
It said Sydney had more than quadrupled its average August rainfall of 79.9 millimetres, with a running monthly total of 345.2 millimetres to 9am Thursday.
“To 9am Thursday, Sydney has received 1326.4 millimetres of rain this year, with a running total that is already more than 100 millimetres above the annual average in records that go back to 1858m,” Weatherzone said.
Also on Thursday, a man and his dog were plucked from floodwaters south-west of Sydney as NSW’s latest downpours continue. They had become stranded, with water up to their vehicle’s headlights, while trying to drive across the flooded Douglas Park Causeway in Wollondilly just after 6.30am.
Rescue crews strung a rope across the causeway before a single NSW SES officer crept across to the vehicle to rescue the pair.
“With more rain and the risk of flash flooding today, remember: If it’s flooded, forget it,” the NSW Rural Fire Service said in a social media post accompanying pictures of the rescue.
Another rescue was under way in the Camden area early on Thursday afternoon, where horses had been isolated by floodwaters.
“This is a dynamic and widespread event. It is impacting many parts of NSW,” NSW SES Deputy Commander Debbie Platz said.
The rain was expected to keep falling in NSW and Queensland on Thursday.
“We now have a system that is impacting most of the east coast into the north-west area of the state. The system is bringing with
it significant rainfall, flash flooding and rises in the river systems,” Platz said.
“We are likely to have severe thunderstorms, erratic and gusty winds, which may cause waterspout along the east coast.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Helen Reid said the rain was likely to ease on Friday, but continue through the weekend.
There are flood watches active on NSW’s mid-north coast, north-west slopes and Hunter region, 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.
Reid said wet weather was expected to ease in inland areas as a coastal low pressure system moved away from the east coast, drawing the rain offshore.
Higher falls are expected closer to the coast.
Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid North Coast had falls of more than 141 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday, with more than 146 millimetres at nearby Lake Cathie.
Rainfall totals topping 50 millimetres were widespread in coastal parts of Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong.
In south-east Queensland, North Stradbroke Island and parts of the Gold Coast received more than 50 millimetres of rain, with Coombabah Creek getting 80 millimetres.
-with AAP
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