The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning to parts of NSW as weather conditions are set to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall.

The warnings stretch across the Mid North Coast, Northern Tablelands and parts of Northern Rivers, North West Slopes and Plains and Central West Slopes and Plains forecast districts.

The heavy rainfall may lead to flash flooding in warning areas over the next several hours, with locations set to be affected including Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Armidale, Moree, Tenterfield and Narrabri.

READ MORE: Tens of thousands still without power after 'supercell' hail sparked chaos

Tamworth residents described the winds as a mini tornado after the strong gusts destroyed trees and tangled roofing in power lines. 

In the Hunter region, Muswellbrook was hit with gusts of up to 100km/h.

Tamworth Airport recorded winds as powerful as 124km/h.

The Bureau of Meteorology has said that a warm and humid airmass mixed with a trough and west to south-westerly change has resulted in the thunderstorm warnings for this afternoon and evening.

Locals are being urged to stay vigilant and monitor conditions.

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Detectives have failed to find any trace of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont after spending the day searching mine shafts near the remote South Australian property where he went missing.

Police this morning began a three-day search of six mine shafts near Oak Park Station, about 43 kilometres from the town of Yunta.

Officers said they didn't know about the shafts before.

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Gus was reported as last seen playing on a mound of dirt about 5pm on Saturday, September 27 by his grandmother at the family's Oak Park Station homestead.

By 5.30pm, Gus – who has been described as shy but adventurous – had vanished and a full-scale ground and air search of the property and surrounding area was launched.

The fresh search involves STAR Group officers and Task Force Horizon officers using specialised equipment to search six mine shafts in the area.

About a dozen detectives overcame hot and windy conditions today to scour the shafts, lowering cameras into the mines in search of the little boy.

The uncovered, unfenced shafts are between 5.5 kilometres and 12 kilometres from the Oak Park homestead, in areas not searched on foot by police.

Police Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams said the new searches were part of ongoing investigations.

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"We are determined to explore every avenue in an effort to locate Gus Lamont and provide some closure for his family," she said.

"These searches will either locate evidence or eliminate these locations from further investigation by the Task Force."

Last month police drained a large dam on the property and eliminated the possibility Gus may have drowned.

This followed extensive ground and air searches of the area surrounding the Oak Park Station homestead.

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The ground search has now extended to 5.5 kilometres from the homestead.

This equates to 95 square kilometres searched on foot.

This area searched with the help of aircraft and mounted officers has been estimated at 470 square kilometres, with no sign of the child.

Police stressed that no part of the investigation had turned up any suggestion of foul play.

Detectives will return to the area tomorrow.

An Adelaide man has been hailed a hero after he alerted his neighbours to a fire in their apartment complex and got them to evacuate.

Ross Greig went door-to-door to wake about a dozen of his Brooklyn Park neighbours after the fire broke out at a unit in the Constance Street complex. 

Greig was jolted into action about 4am when the ablaze unit's tenant woke him.

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"'I've set the flat on fire', he said and ran out panic-stricken. He ran out of the streets here and I said, 'what are you doing?' He said, 'I'm going for the fire brigade'," Grieg said.

"People were sleeping and it took a while to get them all out. And some people didn't come out, maybe thought it was a hoax."

Residents had noticed a concerning accumulation of items both inside and outside the apartment where the fire originated, and believe these materials contributed to the intensity of the blaze. 

While the fire spread to an adjacent unit, firefighters successfully contained the major damage to the initial apartment.

The building's owner said she has offered support to the tenant.

The cause of the fire is undetermined.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.

A woman accused of randomly stabbing a worker walking along a city street has pledged to clean up her act despite facing eviction from her community housing over safety fears.

Lauren Darul is seeking bail after she was charged with recklessly and intentionally causing injury and committing an offence while on bail for allegedly stabbing Wan Lai as she was on her way to work in central Melbourne.

It was revealed in Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing today that Darul's housing provider Unison had issued her with an eviction notice if she was granted bail, citing the risk of danger to community, other tenants and staff.

READ MORE: Man dresses as dead mother in Mrs Doubtfire scheme to collect pension

Darul, who has been homeless or living in unstable accommodation throughout her life and experiences bipolar and schizoaffective disorders, had a long history of substance use, including alcohol, methylamphetamine and ice.

Constable Damian Elliott told the court these drug and alcohol dependencies would likely contribute to future offending.

"I want to clean up my life and stay off the drugs," Darul told the court over video link.

"I don't intend on going back on the ice."

But the crown prosecutor opposed her bail application, citing an unacceptable risk to the community if she was released and her history of alleged bail breaches.

The victim and her family were also extremely distressed by the possibility the accused would allowed back into the community.

Lai had been walking on a footpath about 7.35am on October 2 when Darul allegedly ran up from behind and stabbed her in the upper body.

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Emergency services arrived to find an extremely distressed Lai, who was taken to hospital with a punctured right lung and bleeding around the lung, Const Elliott told the court.

Darul, 32, was arrested 90 minutes later after officers tracked her down at her housing provider Unison, where she revealed a 10cm silver kitchen knife allegedly used in the attack.

Lai has been discharged and was getting better, but has relocated due to the ongoing psychological trauma she experiences from living near the location of her alleged stabbing.

Const Elliott said he believed the accused posed too great a risk to the community to be bailed, citing the brazen and unprovoked nature of the alleged stabbing and her propensity to flout bail.

The court was told Darul was subjected to bail or summons on 19 outstanding matters at the time of offending and had a criminal history that dated back to 2016, including multiple charges of motor and shop thefts and failing to comply with bail conditions.

But Darul's lawyer argued that she had a range of services on hand to support her if she is released on bail which can ameliorate the risk of reoffending.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Timothy Bourke will hand down his bail decision tomorrow.

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Developer Treasure North Limited owes more than $1.6m to creditors.

The ‘economic climate’ is being blamed for the move.

The crash happened at the intersection of Hinds Arundel and Gills Rds.

Lance Easton had already asked the woman to remove her own top and didn’t provide a towel.

Locals used a car to help steer the animal safely into a nearby property.

An Italian man has been busted trying to dress up as his deceased mother to fraudulently collect her pension.

The man, a former nurse who was unemployed, dressed up with lipstick, a 1970s-style blouse and a pearl necklace when going to the Registry Office in the small town of Borgo Virgilio in northern Italy.

He was trying to renew the identity card of Graziella Dall'Oglio, his mother.

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However, she died three years ago, and her son has instead been collecting her pension the entire time, racking up nearly €53,000 ($94,000), according to reports in Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.

It has now been called the "Mrs. Doubtfire scandal" after the 1993 hit movie starring the late Robin Williams.

In a grim turn, when authorities busted the 56-year-old man and searched the home of his mother, they found her mummified body.

Dall'oglio had not been heard from in years, according to reports.

The mayor of the town, Francesco Aporti, told Corriere Della Sera the scam was exposed after an employee at the registry office noticed some strange things when "Graziella" came to renew her identification, and warned the mayor and police.

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"[He was] wearing a suit with a long skirt, lipstick on his lips, nail polish on his hands, jewellery around his neck and hands, old-fashioned earrings," Aporti said.

"But that neck, upon closer inspection, was a bit too thick, and even the wrinkles were strange, the skin on his hands didn't look like the 85-year-old he claimed to be.

"And his voice, feminine yes, but occasionally a few masculine notes escaped."

After comparing photos between the real Dall'Oglio and those of her son posing as her, they realised they had been fooled, and their investigations revealed her son had been filing regular tax returns.

READ MORE: Accused man from high-profile family on trial for rape

To bring him in, they called the son and said Dall'Oglio needed to present herself to the office to complete the identification process; once the son arrived dressed up as his mother, they took him to a police station, where he admitted his scheme.

They found the body of the mother in the home, with a statement from Italian police saying the body had been wrapped in bedsheets and a sleeping bag.

"She probably died of natural causes, but that will be established by a postmortem," the mayor added.

"It's a very, very sad story, certainly one of great loneliness."

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