A NARROW escape with catastrophe after structural concerns with the levee bank threatened to swamp Maitland CBD on Friday has reinforced the need for serious investment in the Hunter's water infrastructure.
On a visit to Maitland on Monday, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns said the government of the day has to listen to the situation on the ground.
"In the short run it means communities may miss out on essential resourcing from emergency services or the NSW Rural Fire Service and in the longer run it might mean those families and those communities don't get access to essential grants they need to rebuild their lives and rebuild their communities," he said.
"You'll often find if the infrastructure is in place, particularly when it comes to levees, weirs and infrastructure related to flood-mitigation, you can stop a big cost that will have be to incurred by the government in the future.
"We are seeing across NSW increasing instances of natural disaster, and it does mean the infrastructure budget needs to keep pace with a sped up series of natural disasters - whether that's flooding or bushfires, we need to make sure the infrastructure particularly in the regions starts to flow."
Built on the banks of the Hunter River, Maitland has fallen victim to floods since as early as 1820 - with the most recent in 2007, 2015, 2021 and now.
NSW Labor leader Chris Minns in #Maitland today calling for more resources to ensure Hunter communities hit by floods can recover. @newcastleherald #floods2022 pic.twitter.com/WpdRkcxoO0
— Madeline Link (@madeline_link) July 11, 2022
It's the fastest growing regional city in NSW, with more than 90,000 residents expected to call the town home by 2023.
The lack of infrastructure to mitigate floods is a real cause for concern, especially for the small but rapidly growing community of Gillieston Heights which has been cut-off by floodwater for the last five days.
It's been isolated at least three times since 2007, Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said.
"There's 4000 people on that island at Gillieston, that's triple the number of people that were there in 2015," she said.
"There's real concerns there about how to build a resilient community, they're lucky they have a shopping centre and a hub there now and community members have really stepped up.
"But we need to look at all of the resources they need, they haven't got a garbage truck, fuel or the emergency services they're looking for.
"We need to make sure that they can be resilient but they need support to get there and they need the infrastructure and roads to do it."
NSW SES crews have been flat-strap ferrying supplies to and from Gillieston, where water levels could remain too high to cross by car for yet another week.
Below the water, there's no telling how significant the damage to roads is, as councils across the region prepare for a whopping repair bill.
Ms Aitchison said she's been fighting for the last seven years for better maintenance of the levee bank.
"The Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme is a $700 to $800 million asset, it needs repairs, there's still damage outstanding on that asset from March 2021 and subsequent floods in 2022," she said.
"That should have been prioritised given we know we are in a La Nina event.
"Tripling a population in a flood-prone area, the people who were there in 2015 are massively traumatised because they really thought that it wasn't going to be the same - but they're still seeing the same issues occurring through a lack of investment by the NSW government."
Premier Dominic Perrottet visited the Hunter on Friday, adding Newcastle and Port Stephens to the list of disaster-declared local government areas.
"The enormity of the challenge in front of us ... to make sure we get our communities back on track is not lost on me," he said.
"It's going to require, as it has in the past, a major effort."
Maitland City Council has had 14 teams working on urgent pothole repairs throughout its road network over the last week.
Since the start of last week it's already used more than 50 tonnes of asphalt to fill in potholes and 100 tonnes of sand for sand-bagging.
At least 60 warning barriers were erected across the city to keep people out of floodwaters, with the need so significant that the council actually ran out of signs and had to order more.
The council has just begun the arduous process of assessing the damage, with a number of roads still underwater it could be weeks before it knows the full extent of repairs needed.
Ms Aitchison said the NSW government needs to step up and provide funds to get the community back on its feet.
"We had the premier up here last week, I certainly had that discussion with him and I will continue to do that," she said.
"I think at this stage he was listening, but as soon as we get out of this emergency I will be onto those topics.
"It's the anxiety for the community when they don't see government acting on concerns they've raised before.
"That water probably won't go down for another week I'd say, we'll be working with council to make sure assessments happen and that we make a very strong case to the NSW government and get them to listen to it."
The Hunter River peaked at Maitland's Belmore Bridge at 10.4m on Friday, and is currently at 6.31m and falling with minor flooding.
It's expected to remain above the minor flood level into Tuesday.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said it was great to have the opposition leader in the Hunter to see the seriousness of the devastation.
"Whilst the skies have almost cleared there are a lot of families that are still really wondering where their next meal is going to come from and whether they have enough medications in the house," she said.
"In the Port Stephens LGA we have communities still isolated that will be for some days to come."
Hinton, Woodville and Osterly remain cut-off by floodwaters with farmers also isolated.
Ms Washington said the stories residents were sharing were "horrendous".
"We could hear shotguns across the river of LLS [Local Land Services] culling cows and cattle that were stranded," she said.
"It's gut-wrenching and there are a lot of families that are still doing it tough."
The Hunter River remains at 2.4m at Raymond Terrace, below the minor flood level.
