The State Emergency Service expects Singleton, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, to be its biggest concern today as river levels continue to rise.
Key points:
- There is an evacuation warning for Singleton, as major floods are expected later today
- Residents of the central coast are also on alert as catchment of Tuggerah Lakes continues to increase
- The weather system appears to be advancing toward the north central coast
There is likely to be heavy flooding in Singleton this afternoon and moderate flooding in Maitland.
Residents along the Hunter River in Glenridding, Dunolly, Whittingham, Scotts Flatt and Combo were told to evacuate at 11pm last night.
A flood evacuation notice has been issued in the lower areas of Singleton Township.
An evacuation center has been set up at Singleton Heights Diggers and Cessnock Leagues Club.
Large floods are occurring in Bulga and Wollombi, with the river level in Bulga the highest level recorded since 1952.
Chris Books, the Wollombi Tavern publicist, says they cut him off from the pub.
“It’s bad, we thought this morning that this is the worst flood since 1949,” he said.
Wollombi Tavern has been flooded by flood waters. Image from 5/7/22 (ABC News)
Mr Books said he is safe in his home, but further down his street properties have been flooded.
“At the foot of my street there are only 100 meters of road visible,” he said.
“In fact, I can’t get to the pub. I trust the photos other people send me, but it’s very close to being at the top of the doors and windows.”
Melissa, a resident of Hunter Valley, is trapped on her property on the outskirts of Broke and has lost power.
“The water is renting the porch, we lost our cutlery in the back in a small pod that we had someone rented and we can’t get out,” he said.
“We are on the priority list with SES, but SES cannot enter either.”
Central coast on high alert
On the state’s central coast north of Sydney, heavy flooding continues to affect thousands of residents.
Around Long Jetty, residents are warned that the flood waters of Tuggerah Lakes could reach 1.75 meters later this morning.
The former central coast mayor has described her commotion over the current flooding around her home in Chittaway Bay.
“Look, I just went down and I’m in total disbelief, we have water where I’ve never had any,” he said.
“I think our lower level will start to go down and it’s never happened here. I’m really surprised and actually quite uncomfortable now.”
Heavy flooding is occurring in Lake Tuggerah, affecting the surrounding Chittaway houses (Supplied by: Shannon Schloff)
Currently, the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry has a peak of around 5.75 meters, with heavy flooding, above the March 2022 flood level.
19 suburbs of low-lying areas around The Entrance, Long Jetty and Chittaway and as far north as Gorokan, San Remo and Toukley are subject to evacuation orders.
SES Central Coast Commander Rolf Garda says people need to be patient when trying to reach people, with more than 700 calls for help, including more than 50 rescues and evacuations.
“The guys were out there yesterday with the other services doing a lot of tricks at the door in the Tuggerah Lakes area,” he said.
“Numerous flood rescues were called for. We had helicopters to get people out of the pregnant waters.”
The situation is getting worse
Morgan Pumper, of the weather office, says there will be more rain on the Hunter today, but bad weather is moving toward the north central coast.
“For Newcastle, at the moment the forecast shows between 30 and 45 millimeters. For other parts of the Hunter, Singleton could see between 20 and 30 millimeters,” he said.
“A little further north, there could be between 60 and 90 millimeters with heavier localized rains, heavy rains of 125 to 150 millimeters.”
Many roads are closed due to flooding throughout the region. (Supplied by: Lake Macquarie Town Hall)
Tony McMullen of NSW SES said they have had more than 200 jobs in the last 22 hours at Hunter.
“All of our crews have been busy in the Hunter area,” he said.
“The communities have been fantastic, they’ve been well prepared with that … people are making good plans and acting soon.”
Singleton Shire acting mayor Dwight Graham said parts of the region were still recovering from the recent floods.
“Certainly, we are still rebuilding things from the March event, this will only be put back on again,” he said.
“We have signed a petition [for disaster assistance]I did it yesterday and that has been sent to me.
“I hope we hear something pretty soon. I’m sure it will be declared a disaster area.”
Posted 1 hour ago 1 hourTuesday, July 5, 2022 at 9:36 PM, updated 9 m ago, 9 minutes ago, Tuesday, July 5, 2022 at 11:00 PM