Authorities fear people in northern New South Wales may have died last night as a result of the heavy rain and flooding in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.
The NSW State Emergency Service responded to more than 60 rescues overnight as of 3:44am this morning, but were unable to reach the more than 130 people who called for help.
Acting deputy commissioner of the SES Mark Morrow said he feared some of those people may have died.
“My staff tell me overnight that we were unable to respond to the majority of those requests for assistance,” he told Sky News.
“We had people on the roofs of cars, people on the roofs of houses. We don’t know where those people are this morning, we’ll get out there and go to those locations and do our best to locate those people who made those calls, but I suspect that there may be people that have perished last night under those conditions.”
More than 6000 people have evacuated their homes, with many seeking refuge in evacuation centres across the region.
Nine evacuation orders remain in place, according to the SES website including for Lismore, which Morrow says activated its city siren last night for the first time in 12 years, warning people to leave immediately.
#lismore CBD fast filling up with water. #NSWFloods @abcnews @abcnewsSydney @BreakfastNews pic.twitter.com/w57jY4l1Z2
— Jackson Vernon (@jacksonvernon) March 30, 2017
Morrow warned people in cities where evacuation orders are currently in place to leave asap
“I can’t stress enough for those people – don’t wait for the advice of the emergency services,” he said. “You can act now and get out.’”
Photo: Jay McKenzie / Instagram.
