Wild weather

Friday June 8, 06:52 PM
Nine people were missing after a section of highway collapsed in torrential rain north of Sydney, and an elderly couple swept away in their car while crossing a creek are also unaccounted for, as wild weather lashed much of NSW on Friday.The dangerous conditions are continuing across much of NSW on Friday night, with high winds and heavy rain bringing down trees and powerlines, blacking out homes and causing flash flooding. Police and State Emergency Service (SES) personnel are searching for two adults, two children and five bystanders who went to their aid when a section of the Old Pacific Highway collapsed at Somersby, near Gosford, at about 4pm (AEST) on Friday.The car the group was travelling in has been found, but police say there is no sign yet of the missing.Police and the SES have also been searching for two people washed off a bridge by flood waters at Clarence Town, near Dungog, in the Hunter Valley.The SES has responded to more than 2,000 calls for assistance since Thursday and are expecting to remain busy with the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecasting 90 to 100km/h winds and heavy rain into Saturday."We're expecting more calls overnight as the weather moves into Sydney," an SES spokesman said."We're seeing heavy rain in Sydney but nothing like the torrential downpours on the Central Coast and in the Hunter."The wild weather has left 60,000 homes without power and rainfalls of more than 100mm have been recorded since 9am (AEST) in parts of the Mid North Coast, the Hunter Valley and the Central Coast.Storms have dumped a whopping 174mm at Wyong, near Gosford, while flooding has forced the evacuation of several properties at Dungog and Muswellbrook in the Hunter.Warragamba dam, Sydney's major water supply, has received 20mm since 9am (AEST).A BoM spokesman said some of the falls could be close to breaking 30 year records in some areas.Ferry and JetCat services to and from Manly in Sydney have also been suspended due to unsafe conditions on the harbour.