A police rescue effort was under way on Monday to recover three people from a car that went into the Tweed river in far northern New South Wales.
Emergency services were called to Dulguigan Road in Tumbulgum about 1.40pm . A spokeswoman for NSW police said a child had been able to escape the vehicle and seek help from a nearby house.
In a subsequent statement, NSW police confirmed that the vehicle had been located at 3.25pm by boats using sonar equipment, about five metres from the northern river bank. An operation was underway to recover the car’s three occupants.
Witness Thomas Grinham saw the girl reporting her family members had been swept away.
“She was screaming (that) her mum, little sister and older brother had gone into the river in the car,” he told the Seven Network on Monday.
The child was taken to Tweed Heads hospital with family members.
Police operation underway in Tumbulgum after a car accident- fears for 3 people @7NewsSydney pic.twitter.com/3Bt7UelLVU
— Peter Fegan (@PeterFegan7) April 3, 2017
Tumbulgum was among the worst-hit communities in the flooding that devastated northern NSW last week after Cyclone Debbie struck.
Evacuation orders were issued for the town by state emergency services on Thursday. The Tweed overflowed, damaging homes and small business from Murwillumbah to Condong and along to Tumbulgum, Chinderah and Fingal.
It’s the latest tragedy in what’s been a devastating few days forresidents of northern NSW towns and south-east Queensland.
Two women, 36 and 64, were carried off by floodwaters in NSW, while a 46-year-old man died in Murwillumbah from a heart attack when paramedics couldn’t reach him.
A 45-year-old man was discovered dead at a South Murwillumbah caravan park, although his cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
In Queensland, wild weather is hampering the search for a man in his 60s reported missing in in the Lamington National Park area on 29 March.
The 65-year-old is one of three men who remain missing across Queensland in the wake of Cyclone Debbie and the ensuing floods.
The other two missing men are 50-year-old Mondure man David Heidemann and 58-year-old John Frost from Mount Pleasant in Mackay.
Police believe he was walking with a large sightseeing group but didn’t return to a pre-arranged meeting point.
“It’s been rough terrain to cover due to the weather conditions, we had mud and other debris to clear before we were able to access the area,” Senior Sergeant Glenn Ryder said.
“The weather is also impeding our ability for an aerial search but we hope to get the helicopters up shortly.”
Queensland State Disaster Coordinator Steve Gollschewski said “exhaustive” searches were being undertaken and there were serious concerns for the trio’s welfare.
So far, there has been one confirmed Queensland death following the flooding driven by heavy rain after category four Cyclone Debbie swept down the state last week.
The body of 77-year-old Nelson Raebel was found in floodwaters at Eagleby in Logan on Saturday.
