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Weather gallery from last week’s storm p.4

WED 29 APR 2015

The fury of a superstorm

T he Hunter region has been left ravaged by a ferocious East Coast low pressure system that many are calling more severe than 2007’s Pasha Bulker storm.

Hundreds of thousands of properties were with-out power or water for days last week as the State Emergency Service (SES) responded to tens of thousands of calls for assistance, with fallen trees and floodwaters destroying homes and affecting access to arterial roads across the region, resulting in lengthy delays for motorists.

The Hunter was hit hard by the intense system, which caused significant damage from Port Stephens to the Illawarra.

Speaking to the media last Thursday, SES Commissioner Adam Dent said NSW SES had responded to 14,000 requests for assistance in four days.

5,000 of those calls came from the Hunter region, making it the busiest part of the state for the SES.

“By way of example, the entire storm season for this year over the period September through to March, NSW SES responded to 19,000 requests for assistance,” Commissioner Dent said.

“So in just a few days our members across the state have repeated almost the entire workload of the several months prior.”

As well as responding to thousands of requests for assistance, SES members also performed almost 100 flood rescues in the Hunter.

Four lives lost as floodwaters devastate local communities

Testers Hollow was completely inundated by floodwaters RIGHT: A house in washed from its footings at Dungog Images: Supplied

AMELIA PARROTT @amelia_parrott

Three residents aged in their 70s lost their lives at Dungog on Tuesday when rapidly rising flood-waters inundated the township and swept away four homes close to Myall Creek.

Robyn McDonald, 70, Colin Webb, 79 and Brian Wilson, 72 drowned in flash floodwaters after more than 280mm of rain fell on the area over a 32-hour period, transforming nearby waterways into raging torrents.

On Wednesday morning, 86-year-old Gillieston Heights resident Anne Jarmain lost her life when

the vehicle she was driving was swept into raging floodwaters near Cessnock Road at Maitland.

Bystanders rushed to the aid of the woman, entering the floodwaters and attempting to swim out to the sinking hatchback but they, in turn, had to be rescued.

Police divers searched the murky water for nine hours before they were able to recover the woman’s body from the, by then, fully submerged car, eventually determining its location using specialist sonar equipment brought in from Sydney.

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Editor's Desk paul.monforte@newcastlepost.com.au

Time to plan for the future to avoid the same dramas happening again

If there’s a severe storm anywhere in NSW, you can almost guarantee it will make its way to the Hunter region and unleash its fury here.

Something really needs to be done to raise the level of the roads around Gillieston Heights.

I completely understand that the surround-ing land is low-lying and water comes from all over the place, but we can’t have communities isolated for days on end.

A week after the water arrived, the road was still battling to be opened to traffic.

Cessnock Road isn’t the easiest road to travel on at the best of times - it gets pretty narrow in certain spots.

I accept that it would be a difficult and expen-sive fix.

Raising the level of a road is not as simple as it may sound and there is also the problem of where to redirect the floodwaters that would back up on either side if the road was there to block its path.

But Cessnock Road is quite an important thor-oughfare.

The traffic coming off the Hunter Expressway at the nearby Heddon Greta exit is directed to use it as the main way of getting to Maitland.

A question was posed in the media last week

as to whether we as a nation go over the top with Anzac Day.

There are suggestions that commemorations

of the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli were too celebratory and not respectful and solemn enough.

I don’t think this was the case at all last week-end, both here and in Turkey and France.

The services I watched were all very well put together and a fitting tribute to our soldiers.

What I don’t like seeing is people doing things like draping themselves in the Australian flag when they attend services.

Thankfully it doesn’t happen all that often now and I’m sure they don’t mean any offence by it.

It was great to see that many services around the country were reporting their biggest attend-ances for many years.

Our new gloss lifestyle magazine will be launching very soon right across the Hunter region.

Each week, we will bring you a number of feature articles showcasing the best of life in the Hunter along with the latest in food, wine, fash-ion, real estate, social photos, history, markets and art.

The magazine will be available from hundreds of locations in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Mait-land, Cessnock and Port Stephens.

We will be highly visible in shopping centres, cafes, McDonald’s restaurants, real estate agen-cies, pubs and clubs.

We can’t have communities isolated for days

PAUL MONFORTE

the hunter post

www.thehunterpost.com.au www.facebook.com/newcastlepost

19 Pearson St, Charlestown NSW 2290PO Box 2321 Dangar, NSW 2309P (02) 4961 0310

Editorial: editorial@newcastlepost.com.au

Advertising: enquiries@newcastlepost.com.au

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Editor: Paul Monforte Journalists: Stephen Bisset (TE), Amelia Parrott,

Sales Manager: Rhonda CampbellSales: Glenda Peate, Gary Scott (Trades), Dan Hawkins (TE), Alison Hislop (Hunter), Jo Jones (Hunter),

Administration: Lauren Pollard

The Minister for Health Sussan Ley last week announced a review of the Pharma-ceutical Benefits Advisory Committee’s (PBAC) submission guidelines to ensure Australians continue to have affordable and timely access to new medicines and products.

Ms Ley said the guidelines are used by the pharmaceutical industry to prepare submissions to the PBAC so it can assess whether a product should be included on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Further information on the Guide-lines is available on the PBS website www.pbac.pbs.gov.au/

Review for guidelines

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P remier Mike Baird says he was shocked by the amount of devasta-tion he was met with when visiting

the Hunter in the wake of last week’s storm. Meeting with State Emergency Service

(SES) personnel at Metford last Thursday, Mr Baird said it could take months for the region to fully recover.

“You can’t really appreciate the size and the scope of the devastation until you see it firsthand and it is nothing short of devastating,” he said.

“We’ve seen homes, cattle, this whole landscape completely and utterly devas-tated - floodwaters everywhere and [it will take] a long time until we get this community back on its feet.”

Mr Baird said while the cost of the disas-ter was yet to be tallied, he anticipated the damage bill to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnsen said the path to recovery in Dungog, where four houses were swept away in floodwa-ters and three elderly residents lost their lives, would be particularly long.

“This is going to be a very tough recovery on an emotional level for the town of

Dungog,” he said. “I’m there with you, our wider community is there with you, our emergency service personnel are there with you, and the government’s there with you at both a state and federal level.”

Mr Baird had a similar message for resi-

dents of Dungog. “I don’t think any of us could imagine circumstances where our life is literally washed away, I mean, your personal possessions, all your memories are lost in an instant,” he said.

“That’s something that’s devastating

and something that you’ll never ever forget.

“But I think what we’ve shown as a state and nation is that we can come through these events and that’s exactly what we’ll do - we will come through.”

Premier visits Hunter region to pledge government’s full support as communities prepare to rebuild

Local news

Baird: size and scale shocking

An aerial view over Maitland Image: NSW PolAir

AMELIA PARROTT @amelia_parrott

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MAITLAND PRIVATE HOSPITAL was established 14 years ago and since then has been the major provider of private healthcare in the area. The hospital has 113 beds and provides quality care in the following specialties:

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Community

Your pics from the #NewyStorm

Floodwaters fill a suburban backyard in Anzac Avenue, Cessnock

The Hunter River reached a peak of 8.9 metres at Maitland on Wednesday

Floodwaters transform Lambs Valley into a lake

The force of the floodwater rips up asphalt on Maitland Vale Road at Lambs Valley

Floodwaters inundate houses on Mary Street at Abermain

A fallen tree causes damage to a car at Raymond Terrace

A flood damaged home in William Street,Abermain

Floodwaters wash away a large section of earth on Chisholm Road at East Maitland

AMELIA PARROTT @amelia_parrott

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Communities across the Hunter turn out in support of Anzac Day services

Residents across the Hunter turned out in their tens of thousands on Saturday to attend services commemo-rating the Centenary of Anzac.

Residual flooding from last week’s super storm did not stop strong crowds marking 100 years since the landing at Gallipoli.

15,000 residents attended the dawn service at East Maitland, while the isolated community of Gillieston Heights held its own impromptu Anzac Service using sunshade supports at the local playground as a make-shift flagpole to hoist the Australian flag.

Maitland’s traditional dawn service in Maitland Park had to be relocated to Town Hall, and the city’s march was cancelled, but despite this, 1000-strong crowds, which overflowed onto the street, still attended both the dawn and daytime memorial services. More than 40,000 people attended the dawn service at Nobbys Beach, the region’s largest memorial event.

The Cessnock community also turned out in large numbers to support the dawn service as well as a parade slong Vincent St featuring hundreds of local school students.

Newcastle RSL sub-branch president said Ken Fayle said he was “blown away” by the record crowds that filled Camp Shortland and spilled across to the Fore-shore Park and Fort Drive. The city’s new Memorial Walk proved popular as Novocastrians flocked to relax and reflect by the coast following memorial services.

Waste disposal fees waived

Police car stolen and crashed

Maitland and Cessnock residents may dispose at no cost vegetation debris and storm damaged goods, including furni-ture, carpet, mattresses and spoiled food at Council-operated waste management facility.

Members of the public will be required to provide proof of residence in either Maitland or Cessnock (e.g. drivers licence, rates notice).

Maitland Council’s Manager Development and Environ-ment, David Simm said the offer did not extend to general household waste.

“Council is offering this service to Maitland residents to assist them in clearing their homes and yards of storm damaged items and tree debris,” Mr Simm said.

“There will be many residents who wish to take up this offer so we are asking that people be patient if they have to queue and that they obey all signage and directions from Council staff at the tip face.”

The Maitland waste management facility is located at 100 Mt Vincent Rd, East Maitland.

Cessnock’s facility is located at 1967 Old Maitland Rd.

A 32-year-old man was charged after allegedly stealing and crashing a police vehicle at Ashtonfield on Sunday.

Just before 10.30am, an off-duty police officer witnessed an alleged domestic incident on South Seas Drive.

It is alleged a woman suffered a laceration to her hand during the incident.

Police were contacted and officers from Central Hunter Local Area Command attended and arrested the woman’s partner.

The man was handcuffed and placed in the rear of a police car while details were taken from the alleged victim.

The man got into the driver’s seat of the police vehicle before driving off while handcuffed.

A short time later he crashed the police vehicle into two parked cars and a car port.

All three cars involved were extensively damaged, while the car port sustained minor damage.

The man was not injured in the crash and was taken to Maitland Police Station before being taken to hospital for observation.

He was later returned to Maitland Police Station and charged with nine offences: common assault (DV), armed with intent, contravene AVO, take & drive conveyance, drive manner dangerous, disqualified driving, escape police custody, reck-less wounding (DV) and breach of bail.

He was refused bail and appeared before Maitland Local Court on Monday.

The Cessnock dawn service, like all across the Hunter, drew large numbers of people Photos: Rachelle Corcoran

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A gift for living

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A Disaster Welfare Information Centre has been set up at Cessnock City Council for residents who are experiencing hard-ship as a result of the floods.

You can access the service from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday by visiting Council’s Administration Building, 62-78 Vincent Street, Cessnock or by calling 4991 7649.

Alternatively, the service is happy to do home visits if you are unable to travel.

The service can offer people assistance with items such as food, clothing and referral to assistance services.

NSW Disaster Coordinator for the Cessnock local government area, Jennie Gardiner, invites residents in to see her and her team who can provide informa-

tion for services under the one roof. “We are here to help local residents

access the right information. We can point them in the right direction and try and give any assistance they might need at this difficult time,” Ms Gardiner said.

The service works closely with local providers such as the Red Cross and Samaritans and other agency partners to provide the community with all kinds of support.

The centre can also assist people who may not have had insurance or who need other information about what financial assistance might be available to them.

“We are in the long-term business of helping people get their lives back on track,” Ms Gardiner said.

Help for Cessnock residents «

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Sport the hunter post // www.thehunterpost.com.au

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Despite four successive losses, Knights coach Rick Stone is con-fident his team can return to the form that saw them win four

matches to begin the season.The Knights finished strongly with two tries

in the final minutes but fell short in the 26-24 defeat by the North Queensland Cowboys at Hunter Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

“Everyone’s a bit frustrated at the moment. The effort is pretty good to give ourselves some chances,” Stone said.

“It’s been frustrating the way we have played and we’ve been really disappointed, but we did do some good things today and got our-selves back in the game when the Cowboys looked like they were going to keep clear.

“I’m happy with our resolve. The boys kept fighting back, but invariably we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot at the mo-ment.

“I think the difference between the first four weeks and the last four are that we com-peted a lot harder defensively and we made up for some of those issues in the first couple of weeks,” he said.

Earlier, Newcastle’s under 20 team were thrashed 56-16 by the Cowboys

In the NSW Cup, the Knights defeated Canterbury 20-12 in a match transferred to Morry Breen Oval in Wyong after originally being scheduled for No.1 Sportsground.

The NRL competition takes a break this weekend for representative matches in-cluding the Australia/New Zealand Test match in Brisbane on Friday night and the City v Country clash in Wagga on Sunday afternoon.

Nine Knights players will be in action in the various matches. Akuila Uate, James McManus, Jarrod Mullen, Kade Snowden and Tariq Sims will all be part of the Coun-try team; Korbin Sims, Daniel Saifiti and Ja-cob Saifiti will represent Fiji against Papua New Guinea in Brisbane on Saturday.

Danny Levi has been chosen for the Junior Kiwis against the Junior Kangaroos at Cbus Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

The Knights’ next match will be against Manly at Brookvale Oval on Sunday, May 10 at 2pm with the under 20s prior to that at 11.45am.

The NSW Cup side will play the North Syd-ney Bears at No.1 Sportsground on Sunday, May 10 afternoon at 3pm.

Knights needing to get back to basics as losses begin to mount

The Knights in action against the Cowboys at Hunter Stadium on Saturday Photo: Newcastle Knights

PAUL MONFORTE

Jets coach Phil Stubbins believes fans will have more to cheer about next season Photo: Courtesy of Newcastle Jets

They may have finished at the bottom of the ladder but Jets coach Phil Stub-bins still found plenty of

positives in a very tough season for the club.

Newcastle’s A-League campaign came to an end last Friday night with a 2-1 loss to Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium.

It was a free-flowing affair with the Roar having 23 shots at goal and the Jets 19.

The match was scoreless until the 70th minute when Roar substitute Kofi Danning got the home side on the board.

But the Jets were level seven min-utes later when Edson Montano fin-ished off a cross from Travis Cooper.

Lachlan Jackson grabbed the win-ner for the Roar in the 86th-minute.

As with recent performances, Stubbins said he was again proud of his side’s efforts. “There was a lot riding on the game for us and it’s not a nice feeling finishing where we have,” Stubbins said.

“But the boys had a crack. At the

end of the day, it could have been 6-6. Our boys did enough to get something out of the game so it’s a little bit disappointing.

“When you want to improve on things there’s times you need to be strong and make decisions.

“There was some angst and a transition but we’ve had some kids that played and brought some pride back to the shirt.”

FINAL A-LEAGUE LADDER: Mel-bourne Victory 53pts (+25), Sydney FC 50pts (+17), Adelaide United 46pts (+15), Wellington Phoenix 46pts (+10), Melbourne City 35pts (-5), Brisbane 34pts (-1), Perth Glory 50pts (+10), Central Coast Mariners 23pts (-24), Western Sydney Wan-derers 18pts (-15), Newcastle Jets 17pts (-32).

In the elimination finals Adelaide United take on Brisbane Roar at Ad-elaide Oval at 7.30pm (AEST) on Fri-day night and Wellington Phoenix play Melbourne City on Sunday af-ternoon at 5pm (AEST) at Westpac Stadium. The following week, Mel-bourne Victory will be up against the lowest-ranked winner from the two elimination finals and Sydney FC play the other winner.

Tough times to give way to better season as Jets fight hard against Roar

PAUL MONFORTE

A-LEAGUE