Mass evacuation as town awaits worst

MORE than 4000 residents of Maitland were being urgently evacuated from their homes last night after the swollen Hunter River breached a levee, threatening parts of the NSW town with a torrent of floodwater. Graphic: Waterlogged state Video: Cargo ship in trouble Video: Ship's crew rescued Video: Concern for more ships See the latest weather map Gallery: Wild weather

MORE than 4000 residents of Maitland were being urgently evacuated from their homes last night after the swollen Hunter River breached a levee, threatening parts of the NSW town with a torrent of floodwater. Graphic: Waterlogged state Video: Cargo ship in trouble Video: Ship's crew rescued Video: Concern for more ships See the latest weather map Gallery: Wild weather

Police said that at 9.23pm (AEST), water levels in the river reached 11.5m and began "overtopping" the flood gates at nearby Oakhampton, west of Newcastle. "Flooding of low-lying areas is now imminent," they warned.

With waters continuing to rise, soldiers from the army's Singleton barracks sandbagged shops along the main street of the town, which lies in the middle of the region smashed by the worst storms to hit the central coast of NSW in 30 years.

But police, firefighters and emergency workers were urging residents to flee Maitland and the suburb of Lorn on the opposite riverbank to the town centre. Most residents were unprepared for the evacuation, with few expecting the flood levels of the last big deluge in 1955 to be repeated.

Wild weather and flash flooding have claimed nine lives in NSW since Friday, with five members of one family killed when a section of road collapsed, sending their car into a raging creek. Adam Holt, 30, his partner Roslyn Bragg, 29, their two girls Madison and Jasmine, aged two and three, and nephew Travis Bragg, 9, died when part of the Old Pacific Highway collapsed at Somersby on the NSW central coast.

Morris Iemma warned yesterday that in financial terms, the floods and storms that hit Newcastle, the central coast and the Hunter Valley could be the state's worst natural disaster. The Premier estimated the cost of the storm, which left a 40,000-tonne coal freighter beached on Friday, could run into the "tens of millions of dollars".

In Berkeley Vale on the central coast, some residents were forced to take extraordinary measures to evacuate their homes. Dozens of residents left on Saturday night, and dozens more were evacuated last night because of fears of rising tidewaters from Tuggerah Lake. Marlene Boshier put her dinghy to good use by assisting her neighbours to gather their essential belongings as the waters rose.

Ms Boshier, 60, rowed her neighbours - one of whom was a 92-year-old woman - down the street to safety. "This is the worst flood we've had since 1992. We probably won't get our power back until the end of the week," she said.

In Lorn, Amanda Kamholtz was last night gathering together the family photographs, jewellery, computers and family pets as darkness fell.

She said she had not prepared because her home, which sits beside the Hunter River, was not flooded in 1955, the biggest flood in living memory.

However, she said emergency services officers had told her this flood was different and was expected to overrun the levee beside her driveway.

"We thought, 'Oh, my god, we're not prepared'," she said last night.

"We've chucked everything on the beds and we're hoping for thebest."

SES region controller Greg Perry said the Bureau of Meteorology was predicting the Hunter River would peak between 9pm and midnight. He told evacuees to gather up financial documents, medicines and mementos and place their other possessions on tables, beds and benches.

Residents were told to take clothes for three days, and turn off their electricity, gas and water.

Despite the order, many seemed intent on waiting out the flood during the afternoon.

It was only after dark that police moved spectators away from the river.

Drinkers at the nearby Imperial Hotel, one of the few businesses still open in the heart of Maitland at 5pm, heard the evacuation order but kept drinking until police ordered the licensee to close.

By 6pm the centre of Maitland was largely deserted.

Evacuation centres were established at the East Maitland community hall and Maitland High School.

After peaking in Singleton early yesterday the flood surge had inundated homes in Branxton and threatened shops and businesses before daybreak.

Joe Boland and his wife, Margaret, lost most of their possessions when the flood surged up Anvil Creek in Branxton at about 4am. He was woken by his kelpie dog barking and walked to the back door to find water lapping at the step of his home of 14 years.

He spent the morning moving machinery and rescuing his 14 horses, but lost 30 poultry show birds, his entire breeding stock. "I had time to get the animals out but I lost the ute. Everything else we own is gone," he said.