Broady Logan has been hunkering down with his wife and three children at the Red Chief Motel in central Gunnedah since Saturday.

With flood levels at his house in north-west Gunnedah still about 8.4 metres, Logan said that it would be another few days before the family could return home.

“It’s just hard to keep the kids entertained at a motel,” Logan said, as the historic town remains under an emergency warning and residents are urged to steer clear of the floodwaters.

“We have had seven or eight floods in the past 12 months,” he said. But despite this, he and his family remain steadfast in their decision to stay in the area.

“I own my own home, and the rental market in Gunnedah is brutal,” said Logan, who works in mining. “The cost of a rental is double our weekly payment on the mortgage, so no, we are not moving.”

Gunnedah is just one of many towns that has been rocked by devastating floods and erratic weather, and NSW Police delivered the terrible news that a body, believed to be that of a missing 28-year-old woman, had been located in floodwaters in the state’s Central West on Monday morning.

The woman was a passenger in a vehicle that had been swept into floodwaters in Gulgong, about 30 kilometres north of Mudgee, about 11pm on Sunday. The driver of the car, a 45-year-old man, and two male passengers, aged 43 and 26, made their way to safety. The woman, also a passenger, made her way out of the car but went missing.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet extended his thanks and condolences for all those involved in the rescue during a flood update on Monday afternoon.