Search for man missing in NSW floodwater enters day three

The search for an experienced driver who disappeared after trying to cross a flooded creek in northern NSW is due to enter its third day.

The 72-year-old climbed from his car and clung to a tree after the 4WD was swept off a concrete causeway and into Leycester Creek at Larnoon on Wednesday afternoon.

But witnesses watched on helplessly as the man, who once drove overland from England to Singapore, was soon washed away by the fast-flowing floodwaters.

Police, volunteers and rescue crews searched by air and on the water until nightfall on Wednesday and Thursday, travelling up to 4km downstream, and will re-launch their efforts on Friday morning.

A friend of the missing man said the 72-year-old's children and former partner had travelled from Brisbane to the NSW far north coast after being notified of the search by police.