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The death toll from the storms across the New South Wales east coast has risen to nine, with the discovery of a man's body at Hamilton North, near Newcastle today.
Forty-five-year-old Wayne Bull was attempting to get out of his car when it was swamped by floodwaters at Lambton, a suburb of Newcastle, on Friday night and he was swept into stormwater drain.
His body was found this afternoon in Styx Creek at Hamilton North, several kilometres from where he disappeared. His body is being taken to the Newcastle morgue. Today police also located the body of a woman and a man on the NSW Central Coast. They were in a car with three children that fell into a crevasse that opened up on the Old Pacific Highway at Somersby. All five have now been found.
Last night, a 29-year-old Heddon Greta man was killed when a tree crushed his utility, near Brunkerville, in the Lower Hunter. Two people died on Friday when their car was swept off a bridge at Clarence Town in the Hunter Valley.
Prime Minister John Howard has expressed his condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and others who have been affected by the storms and flooding.Mr Howard has announced additional emergency assistance.
People who have been injured, or whose homes have been severely damaged, can access a Centrelink payment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child. Mr Howard says he plans on visiting the region soon.
"I know I speak for every Australian in saying the country is thinking of you and we are heartbroken by the loss of life and the tragic circumstance in which a number of people have lost their lives," he said.
"The human side of this - it is an immense disaster."
- RADIO AUSTRALIA
