Mr Webb was at home alone in a seniors living complex when flash floodwaters swept through his unit at 9am on Tuesday.

He was one of seven victims of the extensive flooding from the Illawarra to the upper Hunter this week as wild weather and high winds swept through the region.

Speaking to the Western Advocate yesterday, Mrs Milne said she was still in shock at her brother’s death.

“It’s one heck of a shock, I can tell you. I still don’t have my head around it,” she said.

“I just went numb ... you don’t think you’ll ever have that happen.

“From what we know it was a wall of water, but he didn’t seem to live anywhere near water or a creek.

“It [the water] came into his unit and they [police] seem to think it came up as high as the ceiling.

“They seem to think he was trying to get out and whether he stumbled or the pressure was just too much, but he drowned.”

Mr Webb, 79, was born in Lismore but moved to Bathurst in 1948 when he was 11 years old with his siblings Eunice and Earl and their parents Eunice Emma Webb and John Whelan Webb.

He lived in the city until he was in his mid-20s before he started a life of travelling around the country and using Bathurst as his base.

During this time he played rugby league with the Railway football team. Golf was his other passion.

“Colin was a golfer and did very well, where he nearly went professional, but didn’t have the money to do it,” Mrs Milne said.

“At one time he was cane-cutting in Queensland. He’d go up whenever it was the season. He was also a caretaker of an orchard in Griffith ... he wandered about. He was a bit of a free spirit.”

Mr Webb moved to Dungog around four years ago to be closer to his sister and her husband Sidney Milne, who lived in Maitland.

Mr Webb never married and had no children, but Mrs Milne said she believed he had lived a happy  life.

“He had his health, he was very good for 79 ... he was still riding his bike and would go for a ride every morning,” she said.

Mr Webb was also involved in a Dungog lawn bowls team as well as a local choir.

Funeral details were yet to be organised at the time of going to press.