'IS THIS YOU?' Chilling message behind photo of mystery car in raging floodwaters
Emergency services have shared a distressing image of a car in rushing floodwaters in an urgent appeal to track down the driver and any passengers.
The photo was captured in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire on Sunday afternoon after a 4WD drove into gushing floodwater from Audley Weir following wild rain that battered the east coast over the weekend.
NSW SES Sutherland Shire called on the public via its Facebook page on Tuesday to track down the Land Cruiser’s occupants having “exhausted every avenue” to determine if they made it to safety or not.
“We have no intention of trying to get whoever this is in trouble, we just want to know that they are ok and got out alive,” the service wrote in its post.
“If this is you, or you know who this is, please get in touch to let us know.”
The floodwater at the Royal National Park crossing was two metres deep when the photo was taken, the SES said.
“For everyone else, please don’t drive through floodwater,” it warned.
SES NSW spokesperson Andrew Richards said it was possible the vehicle made it through to the other side of the road despite the fast flowing water being nearly as high as its windows.
He condemned the driver’s dangerous behaviour and said they put themselves and any passengers in “significant risk”.
“That was a very dangerous situation and we encourage people to never enter floodwater, and if they find a road flooded, stay out of the water, turn around and find a different way to go,” Mr Richards told Yahoo News Australia.
He added there was in fact an alternate way to get around Audley Weir, making the driver’s actions even more inexcusable.
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A coastal trough caused rain and windy weather from the NSW south coast all the way up to Brisbane in Queensland on the weekend, bringing record-breaking downpours and flash-flooding in several areas.
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It wasn’t the first time vehicles had been caught in a hairy situation while trying to cross through flooding water at Audley Weir, with the boom gate at the road snapped in 2017 by daring drivers.
The Sydney basin saw its heaviest rainfall in about 20 years over the weekend and early into the week.
Tens of thousands of homes were left without power, more than 50 schools were closed and some communities north and south of Sydney CBD were forced to flee their homes due to flooding.
About 38,000 homes and businesses remained without power on Wednesday as crews scrambled to restore as many properties as possible until more wild weather struck.
Sydney, the Central Coast and the Blue Mountains were soaked by between 200 and 400mm of rain from 9am Friday to 5pm Sunday.
The last time Sydney and the state's coast had as much rainfall was mid-2016.
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