Key Points
- Police believe they have found the body of a missing woman in Eugowra.
- The central western town has been devastated by flash flooding.
- Rescue helicopters, military personnel and international emergency crews remain working across NSW flood zones.
The body of a woman missing in NSW floodwaters has been found.
Police are yet to make a formal identification but believe it may be that of Diane Smith from the central western town of Eugowra, which was devastated by roof-high flash-flooding in the early hours of Monday.
Ms Smith, 60, last spoke to a relative by phone from her car that morning.
Ljubisa "Les" Vugec, 85, last seen at his Eugowra home around the same time, is still missing.
State Emergency Service chaplain Steve Hall said Eugowra had been decimated by the disaster.
"Everything they hold dear has been swept away in a wall of water," he said.
Rescues, hundreds of calls for help
Rescue helicopters, military personnel and international emergency crews remain working across NSW flood zones as residents in nearby Forbes brace for their second deluge in a fortnight.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning the adjacent Lachlan River could meet the historic June 1952 peak of 10.8 metres on Wednesday, while major inundation is expected to persist until the end of the week.
People in parts of the northwestern town of Gunnedah, where the Namoi River is expected to peak near 8.2m, and the central NSW community of Gooloogong have been told to evacuate.
In the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, the SES responded to 329 calls for help and performed 17 flood rescues.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said 122 warnings were active statewide and hundreds of homes had been destroyed.
Fourteen people were rescued in Forbes on Tuesday night after the Plainsman Motel was inundated, including an elderly couple and their daughter, rescued by a helicopter.
About 1,000 people and up to 600 homes and businesses are affected by evacuation orders in the town.
Eugowra is among the towns in central west NSW hardest hit by the floods. Source: AAP / MURRAY MCCLOSKEY
The Country Women's Association member said the group had been checking on people across town.
"I've never seen so much water," she told news agency AAP on Wednesday.
"When the water goes down, people are going to need a lot of help, particularly farmers because they are the ones who are really affected."
Crews have been door-knocking and sandbagging after 120mm of rain fell in a matter of hours early on Monday, causing ferocious flash flooding and forcing Wyangala Dam to spill into the swollen Lachlan River.
Residents in nearby Forbes are bracing for their second deluge in a fortnight. Source: AAP / Murray McCloskey
'It's devastating'
The torrential rain doubled the height of Mandagery Creek at Eugowra on Monday, devastating the town of 800 people.
Residents have described two sudden and intense surges of water flowing through the town, washing away houses, knocking over structures and leaving destruction like a "war zone".
Eugowra resident Kelly Chambers says her family had to escape through the window of their home during flash flooding in the town. Source: AAP / MURRAY MCCLOSKEY
Hours later, they climbed out a window and waded through waist-deep water as a torrent tore through the village.
Ms Chambers, her husband, their three children and her parents eventually found a truck trailer to perch on for six hours before a fire truck delivered them to the evacuation centre at the showground.
"It's devastating. Anything that is a memory is gone."
