Wild weather: Cyclonic lashing shakes us to the core

THREE dead, dozens of houses severely damaged, scores of flood rescues, hundreds of trees down, thousands of calls for help and tens of thousands without power.

Such was the dreadful toll of the east coast low that tore its way through the Hunter on Tuesday.

The storm brought with it 135kmh winds and rainfall not seen for at least 50 years to create record river levels and stretch emergency services to their limits.

Dungog awoke to tragedy.

Three elderly residents were found dead as the Myall Creek broke its banks and poured through the centre of town, taking at least four homes with it, moving another off its foundations and flooding at least another six.

Police were still waiting for flood waters to recede so the houses could be searched, but they had not received any more reports of missing people on Tuesday night.

The dead included a woman discovered in her flooded bedroom, a man found on his verandah not long after being seen on his roof and a second man in the yard of his retirement village.

Police are investigating whether all three drowned after flood waters rose above the roofs of their houses.

Several campers missing and feared drowned were found alive after being washed away in flood waters at Stroud. 

They never stood a chance as chest-high waters poured out of Mill Brook and Mill Creek and through Stroud showground.

At Gostwick Bridge near Paterson, the Paterson River peaked at 16.1 metres, the highest level on record after rising above the 1978 mark, while flood waters from the Williams and Hunter rivers also blocked numerous roads along the river flats.

Emergency services had made more than 50 flood rescues by late Tuesday afternoon, including grabbing seven people off the roof of a Nine Mile Creek house and destroying two rescue boats while a mother and two children were saved from a house shifted by floodwater at Greta.

The high number of rescues, many of people who had become stranded attempting to cross flooded roads, prompted emergency services chiefs to tell residents to use common sense.

‘‘Look after yourself, look after your family, look after your neighbours and stay safe,’’ Northern Region commander Assistant Commissioner Jeff Loy said.

‘‘Don’t go venturing where you don’t need to.’’

Weather expert Don White said the 148mm of rain that fell at Maitland in an hour on Tuesday morning was the heaviest hourly fall in the Hunter since at least the 1960s, and possibly since the 1870s. 

Many parts of the Hunter received 300mm in just over a day.

Countless trees were uprooted in the softened earth and gale-force winds, many creating huge damage bills as they tore through homes and businesses.

The carnage included a massive gum tree which crashed through the centre of a Rankin Park house, narrowly missing a couple asleep in a bedroom.

More than 200,000 people were without power at certain times on Tuesday, and power providers have warned that some houses may remain in the dark for days as workers plough through the backlog.

Hunter Water pleaded for customers to preserve water after water pumping stations were also struck with power outages.

State Emergency Service spokeswoman Amanda Hyde said the SES had received more than 2000 calls for assistance across the Hunter by 7pm on Tuesday and crews were readying themselves for more chaos as a second low was due to hit the Hunter coast late on Tuesday night.

It was the first time the SES had sent blanket SMS alerts to Newcastle residents warning of expectations of ‘‘high-velocity flash flooding in local creeks and watercourses’’ across the city and its suburbs.

SES Deputy Commissioner Steven Pearce said he had never seen cyclonic winds last for 24 hours as they had in the Hunter.

‘‘We have rainfall recorded in excess of 300mm in some areas, which has caused intense and catastrophic flash flooding and we’ve had homes completely washed away in Dungog,” Mr Pearce said.

Reports of significant damage came from most corners of the Hunter.

Port Stephens and Lake Macquarie suffered severe weather, while the Coalfields and Lower Hunter went underwater as usually tame brooks and creeks overflowed.

More than a dozen people were evacuated from a unit block at Merewether after it lost its roof. 

Most of the Hunter’s rail lines were severely affected and buses stopped at 7pm on Tuesday night.

There was chaos on major thoroughfares as well.  

Parts of the Pacific Highway, Industrial Drive, The Esplanade at Warners Bay and John Renshaw Drive were blocked for considerable periods of time.

 More than 100 schools across Newcastle, the Hunter and the Central Coast will remain shut on Wednesday, as will the University of Newcastle campuses at Callaghan and Ourimbah.

A decision on whether Hunter TAFE campuses open will be made on Wednesday morning.

Weatherwatch’s Don White said the east coast low was not as ferocious as the Pasha Bulker storm of 2007 but had continued for more than three times as long.

NSW Premier Mike Baird said it was too early to say how the three elderly residents had died at Dungog.

‘‘It looks very much like we have lost three residents. They are elderly residents, and at the moment those circumstances are being worked through,’’ he said.

‘‘... It is obviously a tragedy for their family and friends, and all of us are thinking of them at this time.’’

He said the Dungog area was cut off but ‘‘we are doing everything possible we can to support them’’.

‘‘There are a number of homes that have been lost in this. There’s obviously a number of roofs that have been taken off, and we’ve also lost life,’’ he said.

‘‘It is a huge storm event that is wreaking havoc across NSW at the moment.’’