A man found submerged in a ute in the Gold Coast hinterland has become the second death connected to the past week’s floods.
Queensland rescue crews found the body of missing man David Hornman on Wednesday afternoon, hours after another person was located dead in a submerged car in floodwaters at Glenorie in northwest Sydney.
Authorities in Queensland had been searching for the 38-year-old Mr Hornman since Monday.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, NSW Police confirmed the death of a 25-year-old Pakistani man after responding to reports of a car being trapped in floodwaters on Cattai Ridge Road at about 6:25am.
The vehicle was found after 1pm with the man's body inside. He was on his first day of a new contracting job.
NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott was among those to offer condolences, saying the man's death would send ripples through the northwest Sydney community.
"The human cost of these floods has been brought into sharp focus in the most tragic of circumstances and I urge communities to continue to be cautious in the face of continued and imminent threats to life," Mr Elliott said.
Rivers around flood-stricken NSW remain treacherous and around 24,000 people have been evacuated from their homes but the torrential rain that has battered the state for the week has finally eased.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Wednesday morning even though the sun was shining, the state is still in the grip of a devastating crisis, with rivers still rising and floodwaters taking some time to recede.
"We're certainly not out of the woods," she said.
Around 60,000 people have been told by the State Emergency Service to be ready to evacuate as several severe weather warnings remain in place and swollen catchments continue to experience flows of water not seen in 50 years in some places.
Flood affected areas are seen from a helicopter in the Windsor area on 24 March in Sydney.. Source: Getty Images
Prime Minister Scott Morrison flew over flooded Windsor in Sydney's northwest on Wednesday to survey the damage.
In the past few days, there have been 11,000 calls for help to the SES and 950 flood rescues.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts there will be no major rain for at least a week, paving the way for the army and emergency service workers to get essential supplies to isolated communities, particularly in North Richmond where floodwaters continue to rise.
Ms Berejiklian is grateful for the reprieve from the record-breaking rainfall that plunged the state into its fourth crisis in as many years, after drought, bushfires and COVID-19.
But this was not the time to be complacent.
"The currents are strong, the rivers are rising," the premier said.
The damage inflicted on thousands of homes, businesses and infrastructure means "life won't be normal for a lot of people for a long time".
Prime Minister Scott Morrison inspects damage created by floodwaters from a helicopter in Sydney on Wednesday. Source: Getty Images
"I'm not going to pretend that the clean-up and recovery will be easy," she said.
A number of moderate and minor flood warnings are still in place as are several major flood warnings.
There have been 12,000 insurance claims so far and that number is expected to increase dramatically, with the government promising it will be vigilant in holding insurers to account when it came to processing claims.
In Queensland, torrential rain that began falling across a wide band of southern parts of the state on Sunday has stopped for the most part.
But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the danger is not over, and water will continue to make its way through flooded areas for a couple more days.
Despite March rainfall records falling in many places, the southeast's major dams received only relatively modest top-ups, pushing the region's water grid to 58.6 per cent of capacity, up 4.6 per cent over the past week.
Additional reporting by SBS News.
You can stay across the latest weather updates and warnings via the or through your state emergency service, including the , and the
