Lismore Floodwaters Peak As Search For Missing Woman Continues

Lismore’s waters have peaked in the last 24-hours, but the flood disaster is not over yet.  

The Wilsons River at Lismore has peaked just shy of predictions at 11.4m about 5pm Wednesday, after the town's 10.6m levee was breached for the second time in a month.

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With 20 evacuation orders in place across the Northern Rivers and the Mid-North Coast, SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan warned around 27,000 residents still faced a "difficult 24–36 hours".

"We are trying to get people back into their communities as quickly as we can so we will continue to work with the communities in those areas that are under evacuation order and as soon as it's safe to do so we will lift those orders," she said.

However, Jenny Surrick from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said there is some relief for residents this morning with the cancellation of widespread severe weather warnings.

"We're not expecting any significant falls across the Northern Rivers during the course of today so that will really allow the river systems to reach their peaks and not have further falls to exacerbate the flooding situation”

The weather bureau is however, urging residents, along the Mid North Coast to keep across the evolving situation.

"At the moment, the convergence of rainfall does seem to be a little further south from the catchment areas during the course of today," Ms Surrick said.

"[But] we are expecting some further rainfall and look, it could intensify."

Meanwhile, a search for a 55-year-old woman believed to be missing in floodwaters continues.

Police say Anita Brake, was reportedly trapped in a white Holden Captiva about 9:50pm on Tuesday, south of Lismore.

Search and rescue teams scoured the area for several hours for the aged care nurse, who had travelled to the region from Nowra in southern NSW to work.

Assistant Police Commissioner Joe Cassar said officers searched the area extensively.

"We haven't been able to locate that vehicle or that person at the time. The search continues throughout the day," he said.

"As you can appreciate, there are high floodwaters, so we'll continue that search."

- Assistant Police Commissioner Joe Cassar

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