By Shannon Watts and Riley Jephcott
A 54-year-old man has been missing for more than 24 hours and there are fears he may have been swept away during flash flooding on Wednesday in the Queensland town of Gympie.
Authorities were able to locate the man’s motorcycle, helmet, and backpack. But he is still missing.
Authorities fear time maybe be running out.
Inspector Patrick Swindells from Queensland Police told media: “It was a very large dump of water in small amount of time. There’s all likelihood that he didn’t see the flooding waters and has become disabled or washed away.”
Woman found in car
A woman’s body has been discovered inside a submerged car at Belli Park on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. It is thought that the floodwaters swept the car into a nearby stream where the car was then fully submerged underwater.
“Unfortunately, we have seen a death overnight and we at all costs want to try to avoid that,” Queensland Police Superintendent Craig Hawkins said after confirming with the press that the body of the woman had been found.
Severe weather expected to continue all week
The extreme weather is expected to worsen throughout the week as it sweeps into NSW.
The recent rainfall in Queensland and northern NSW has caused major flooding along the east coast. The Bureau of Meteorology is reporting heavy rain up to the March 2 and beyond. Many parts of regional NSW and metropolitan Sydney are already experiencing major flooding.
Featured image: The town of Gympie, in Queensland, partly submerged in floodwater on February 28. Photo: Gympie Regional Council/Facebook
