Communities in inland New South Wales are slowly being cut-off by floodwaters as nearby rivers burst their banks amid a “dangerous” deluge.
A number of flood warnings have been issued for the state as a low pressure trough bears down on NSW and southern Queensland.
As heavy rain falls on already saturated ground NSW State Emergency Service (SES) shared a photo of a car swept away in floodwaters, a warning to residents in affected areas.
“No this is not a submarine, it’s a car floating away in flood water on the outskirts of Warren,” the service said.
“The driver started to drive through the flood water when their car got pushed off the road and almost completely submerged.
“No matter how shallow the flood water looks, you never know how fast flowing it is or how quickly it can rise. It’s not worth the risk, turn around and find another route.”
Almost four hours away from Warren the Peel River in Tamworth threatens to cut the suburb of Calala off from the rest of the township.
The warnings come almost 24 hours after emergency services had to use a boat to rescue a man trapped by floodwater in Boggabri, also in NSW’s north west.
Police said the man’s vehicle became submerged approximately 5km east of the Kamilaroi Highway around noon yesterday.
Authorities tried to reach the 22-year-old man but said they were “unable to get to the location due to the flood levels”, forcing SES crews to take to the roads in a boat.
“A short time later, the man was rescued from the roof of his vehicle,” police said in a statement.
“The man was uninjured and did not require medical treatment.”
The man was issued with an infringement notice for the offence of disobey road access sign, which carries a $283 fine and two demerit points.
Satellite sequencing released by Weatherzone shows the thick rain band passing over the eastern part of the nation.
The system is dumping heavy rain over parts of NSW and threatens to produce potentially severe thunderstorms in addition to the flash flooding.
A severe weather warning is current for people on the mid north coast with the Bureau forecasting twenty-four hour rainfall totals of 80-120mm.
However it notes isolated falls to 200mm are possible.
“Rain is expected to increase on Thursday afternoon and continue to Friday morning,” it said.
“Thunderstorms are also possible.”
As of 11:30am, 2.2mm rain had fallen since 9am in Sydney, while Brisbane has recorded 13.4mm.
Severe thunderstorms are possible in Queensland, for eastern districts south of Yeppoon.
Up to 25 mm could fall over Sydney today after a relatively dry period.
Showers are also forecast for Brisbane and Canberra, with maximum falls of 40 mm and 5mm forecast.
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