Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing

MELBOURNE Australia AP Record floodwaters on Australia s east coast left three people dead and one missing officers announced Thursday as more heavy rain was forecast in the area More than people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney The area has been hit with heavy rain since Tuesday The flooding exceeds local records set in and News South Wales Premier Christopher Minns reported various areas were forecast to receive as much as centimeters foot of rain in the next hours He disclosed people were warned to prepare to evacuate or be isolated by floodwaters telling reporters We are bracing for more bad news The body of a -year-old man was recovered from a flooded house in Moto in New South Wales on Wednesday afternoon Acting Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell noted A coroner will determine whether a pre-existing diagnostic condition played a part in his death he added The body of a man aged in his s was recovered from floodwaters near Rosewood early Thursday a police message noted He had disappeared while attempting to drive through a flooded intersection on Wednesday night A -year-old woman was unveiled dead on Thursday after her SUV became trapped in floodwaters near Brooklana on Wednesday night The SUV was unveiled earlier on Thursday police noted A -year-old man also failed to return home after walking near a flooded road at Nymboida on Wednesday night police commented Minns declared more than people had been rescued from floodwater in just over two days a large number of after trying to drive across flooded roads Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib declared flood rescues were conducted in the past hours Helicopters have been used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters from rooftops and verandahs We ve seen more rain and more flooding in the mid-to-north coast area than we ve ever seen before Dib announced The flooding has hit communities including Taree Kempsey Port Macquarie Coffs Harbour and Bellingen in New South Wales Taree received a month s rain in hours an official stated Up around the Taree area we ve seen communities that have never flooded in recorded history now flooding Thurtell revealed The region has opened evacuation centers as of Thursday Ruling body meteorologist Angus Hines mentioned a low-pressure weather system had stalled over the flooded region since Monday bringing centimeters feet of rain to specific parts If it had only been one day and then it had gone we would have seen selected minor or moderate flooding but it wouldn t have been too bad But four days in a row of this amount of rainfall and we see this vital and extensive widespread and major flood event happening in front of our eyes Hines mentioned The rain was losing intensity on Thursday Hines announced Source