Two men have been found dead and there are “grave fears” for two more people as devastating floods spurred by intense rainfall turn deadly.

Police said a body, believed to be that of a missing man, was recovered from floodwaters on the mid north coast on Thursday.

He had gone missing on Wednesday night near Rosewood, after reports that a man had become stuck in floodwater while driving.

While the body is yet to be formally identified, it is believed to be that of the missing man, aged in his 30s.

Earlier on Thursday, the body of a 63-year-old man was located at Moto, south of Port Macquarie.

Acting NSW police commissioner Peter Thurtell said two other people were also missing.

“There was a 60-year-old lady up around the Dorrigo area who has been reported missing,” he said.

“We also have a 49-year-old male who is believed may have walked into floodwaters. But that’s all yet to be confirmed.

“I don’t want to pre-empt any results of anything, but obviously, as we said, we hold grave fears for all three individuals.”

Prolonged heavy rainfall is forecast to continue throughout Thursday, with Kempsey and Coffs Harbour among the communities on high alert for flash flooding.

Some 50,000 people have been warned they could be isolated on Thursday amid dozens of emergency warnings.

“We’re bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours,” Premier Chris Minns said on Thursday morning.

“This natural disaster has been terrible for this community.

“It’s affected a wide number of people and tens of thousands of houses.”

Stranded drivers have been a key reason behind dozens of rescue requests to the SES, and Minns urged people to stop driving through floodwaters.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen scores of rescues in the last three days as a result of people continuing to drive through floodwaters that they believed were safe,” he said.

“It’s never safe. You’re putting yourself in danger, you’re putting your family member in danger, and you’re putting the rescue worker who’s been sent in to try to rescue you as a result of taking the reckless action [in danger].”

The NSW SES said it had responded to 1023 incidents, including 339 flood rescues, in the 24 hours to 5am.

Many rescue requests in Taree, Glenthorne, Oxley Island and Moto remained outstanding.

“We’ve seen continual rainfall and very fast flowing rivers, which when combined with flooded roads have made it very difficult to access some isolated people,” SES Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said.

NSW Police said among the 18 winch rescues it had conducted were:

• Seven people – a woman and her two-year-old child, an elderly man, and four other people – from three homes in River Road Coolongolook;
• Two people – both aged in their 70s – stuck on the roof of their vehicle after driving through floodwaters;
• Four truck drivers from a bridge on the M1 at Ghinni Ghinni.

Kinne Ring, the mayor of Kempsey, where the Macleay River has overtopped a levee and is still rising, said she was concerned for residents and livestock.

“There’s just been a huge amount of rain in the last few days … there’s so much water around and nowhere to go,” she told ABC Radio National on Thursday.

Meteorologist Angus Hines said some weather stations had recorded 500-600 millimetres for the week so far – “an incredible amount of rain”.

“Any time of year, anywhere around the country, that is going to cause significant flooding issues,” he told ABC 24.

The death in Moto, on the banks of the engorged Lansdowne River, was confirmed after emergency services were called to a flooded home about 3pm on Wednesday.

The mid-north coast and Hunter regions have been the worst hit by flooding in recent days, with tens of thousands of people isolated and hundreds requiring rescuing.

The deluge has spread to the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands as a slow-moving trough dumped rain along Australia’s east coast.

Falls of up to 300 millimetres are likely in the next 24 hours. The weather bureau has warned that may lead to flash flooding in and around the north coast communities of Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Woolgoolga, Sawtell and Dorrigo.

It said the trough was expected to contract southwards on Thursday afternoon.

NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing said the emergency remained “a very active situation in the context of the rainfall of 100 millimetres through to embedded storms”.

“The embedded storms will continue to see flash flooding. The flash flooding is a high risk on anyone that is travelling on the roads, and again you need to be situationally aware and not just rely on the warnings,” he said.

More than 130 warnings are in place, with local residents in the path of flooding urged to head to higher ground and evacuate if they can.

There are evacuation centres at Dungog, Gloucester, Taree, Manning Point, Wingham, Bulahdelah, Tuncurry Beach, Kempsey and Port Macquarie.

Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said the Commonwealth was working with the NSW government to provide support in 16 local government areas.

The Insurance Council of Australia said the flooding could be catastrophic, with significant flooding in similar areas in 2022.

“We are closely monitoring the severe weather across the entire state,” council chief executive Andrew Hall said.

-with AAP