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SYDNEY - A man's death near Newcastle has brought to nine the number of people killed or missing in two days of wild storms in the NSW Central Coast and Hunter Valley, as evacuations continue in areas threatened by rising floodwaters.
The 29-year-old Heddon Greta man was driving a white Ford Courier utility along Leggetts Drive at Brunkerville in the Lake Macquarie area just after 6pm (AEST) last night when a tree fell across the roadway and onto the car, crushing the cabin, police said.
In the worst incident since the heavy rain and violent winds hit the region, a woman and her three young children died when their car fell into a crevasse after a road collapsed at Somersby near Gosford on Friday night. Their bodies were found yesterday, and rescue crews will continue searching a swollen creek at Somersby today for the family's 30-year-old father.
A 40-year-old Newcastle man is also missing after being swept down a stormwater drain in the city's north yesterday.
The storms also took the lives of a couple who were swept off a bridge in their four-wheel-drive while crossing a flooded river at Clarence Town in the Hunter Valley on Friday. Their bodies were found yesterday morning.
Strong rain and winds continue to lash the Hunter Valley and the Central Coast, and more than 1000 residents have evacuated their homes as floodwaters rise in Maitland, Singleton and Tuggerah Lake.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma has declared a natural disaster in the region, triggering assistance for local residents, businesses and councils, but has ruled out upgrading that to a state of emergency.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says a severe weather warning remains in place, with wind speeds gusting up to 90km/h.
More than 130,000 homes are still without electricity after power lines were blown down by the strong winds, and power will not be restored in some places until the middle of this week.
Emergency service workers and volunteers have been frantically doorknocking about 300 properties in Maitland overnight to evacuate residents threatened by rising floodwaters, with the Hunter River expected to peak later today.
At Singleton, the Hunter River peaked at 14 metres late last night, causing major flooding in the area.
"There has been an evacuation of 100 residents from rural areas around Singleton," State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman Phil Campbell said.
Tuggerah Lake peaked at 9pm (AEST) last night, forcing 400 residents from their homes, and a nursing home was evacuated at Wyong, north of Gosford.
In New Zealand, a mild start to winter took its first hit last week with snow conditions that left dozens of families without power for two freezing nights in the South Island.
Authorities said yesterday that 42 homes near Gore were still without power on Friday night after snow and high winds snapped powerlines and tore out power poles.
Power was out from 1.15am Thursday and about 131 homes had been affected - linesmen restored power to about 89 of those on Thursday, and last night the lights came on in the last few homes.
At Owaka Valley road near Clinton, Ian Hoggs said his house was "the end of the line", and his power came back on about 5pm yesterday.
The road out of Dunedin was closed due to snow yesterday and various southern roads were blocked.
MetService forecaster Mark Pascoe said temperatures were not unusually low for the time of year, although there was a significant wind chill. "After today it will all die away and we get into the severe frosts.
