FLASHBACK: One year on since the Hunter Valley flood

The Hunter Valley community was hit with 162.4 millimetres of rain on Monday, July 4, 2022 - the kind of downpour that puts a knot in your stomach. It heralded a frightening two weeks of rising water, isolation and evacuations.

Roads across the city were submerged, and Gillieston Heights was completely isolated as the Hunter collectively held its breath, hoping the floodwater wouldn't continue to rise.

The city banded together, as it does so well during times of disaster, to help those who were isolated or stranded, who needed to evacuate with animals, and when the Hunter River started to recede, to clean up on the long road to recovery.

State Emergency Service (SES), Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue, Surf Life Saving clubs and flood technicians from across the country travelled to Maitland to help the Hunter's own crews in one of the biggest flood responses the city had seen in years.

Maitland SES unit commander Craig Parsons was on the ground during the flood, and said it was an incredibly busy time for the unit.

"July hit us pretty hard," he said.

Mr Parsons, who is also a trained flood water rescue operator, said Gillieston Heights being isolated was the biggest job of the flood for the SES.

"We had all of Gillieston Heights isolated so we had ongoing resupply to that area, we had thousands of people out there cut off and the only way in our out was with boats or our high clearance vehicles," he said.

"That was quite challenging, getting the resupply out to those guys."

The first night of Gillieston Heights' isolation isn't one Mr Parsons will forget, as he recalls helping an isolated pregnant woman who had gone into labour.

"The first night they got cut off we had a lady who went into labour, we got a flood boat in the early hours of Thursday morning to help her out and she was having contractions in the boat as we were bringing her out," he said.

"We got her out in time and then a couple of days later I got to take her back in with her newborn baby.

"I won't forget that one."

Mr Parsons said the main jobs the SES took on during the flood were evacuations, food resupply, flood rescues and temporary repairs to homes.

"The RFS and the surf life savers were helping us out, and we had SES from all over Australia and other agencies helping us out," he said.

"It was good to have them there, helping us out because we were very busy across the whole state."

Mr Parsons said since the flood, the SES has implemented the Australian Warning System through the Hazards Near Me app, which gives real time information and warnings on floods, fires and natural disasters.

SES volunteers have also has undergone extensive flood training, and have new equipment to be as prepared as they can be.

At the time, Maitland, Cessnock, Port Stephens, Dungog, Singleton and Newcastle were among the 43 local government areas across NSW declared natural disaster zones due to the lashing of rain received in much of the state.

Maitland's July average rainfall had already been smashed by July 7, 2022, with 285 millimetres recorded at Maitland Airport, 123 millimetres more than the July monthly average.

Belmore Bridge received its average monthly rainfall of 130 millimetres in a single day. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Maitland ended up receiving 327.6 millimetres of rain in July 2022.

On July 11, ACM's Maitland Mercury reported that 55 Maitland roads were closed due to floodwater.

By July 18, the Maitland SES unit had responded to 998 jobs in two weeks, and the clean up was still very much ongoing.

Gillieston Heights ended up being isolated for eight days from July 6 to 14, earning the nickname 'Gillieston Island'.

Testers Hollow, which had not yet been raised, was closed and under water for 16 days from July 4 to 20.

On August 1, 2022, Maitland Mercury reporter Belinda-Jane Davis shared a first-hand account of what life on the land was like after the flood - still being up to her knees in mud and floodwater, fighting to keep livestock out of harms way.

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