5 days ago
Hunter Valley flood victim's body found after days-long search
A body believed to be that of a missing 26-year-old woman has been found by volunteer rescuers in NSW's Hunter Valley.
The Chinese national was swept away on Saturday 2 August after downpours flooded the Hunter Region.
The woman was a passenger in a Mini Countryman driven by a 27-year-old woman on Old North Road in Rothbury.
Her body was found shortly after 11am on Wednesday morning, said Inspector Justin Cornes from the Hunter Valley Police Department
'Our forensic specialist police along with our detectives are on the scene currently,' he said.
'Our thoughts go out to the family of the missing 26-year-old for what has been and will continue to be an extremely difficult time for them.'
On Sunday, Hunter Valley District Commander Superintendent Steve Laksa said both women had tried to get out of the car when it was clear they were stuck, but were swept away 'with the rising and rapidly running causeway waters'.
He said both were 'swept into the causeway' but the driver managed to surface and collect her dog, which was in the back seat of the car.
The driver made her way to the causeway's bank, while the 26-year-old passenger was pulled further away, and eventually found about 450m from the causeway.
The passenger had lived in Australia for three years and worked as an engineer.
A large-scale search was launched for the woman involving local police, the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, Marine Area Command, NSW SES, VRA Rescue NSW, and the NSW RFS.
It was volunteer rescuers from VRA Rescue NSW who found the body.
Rainfall totals as high as 137mm have triggered flash flooding in NSW over the weekend, and the NSW State Emergency Service responded to more than 1455 incidents caused by the severe weather, including more than 100 stuck vehicles.
More than 40 flood warnings were issued north of Newcastle, and parts of the Upper Hunter town of Scone were ordered to evacuate immediately due to 'major flooding'.
At the time Superintendent Laksa urged people to follow warnings about floodwaters.
'I'd just ask the community to take heed of those warnings and do not enter any waterway,' he said.
The body is yet to be formally identified, and a report will be prepared for the coroner. Brendan Kearns Cadet Journalist
Brendan Kearns is a cadet journalist with News Corp Australia. He has written for The Australian, the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser, CHOICE, Cosmos, and The Citizen. He won Democracy's Watchdogs' Student Award for Investigative Journalism 2024 and hosted the third season of award-winning podcast Uncurated. He studied as Master of Journalism at The University of Melbourne, before that he worked as a video producer and disability worker. NewsWire
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