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1951 flood anniversary - a timely reminder of how floods affect infrastructure
Date: 20-Jan-2011
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 flood on the Hunter River. The greatest impact of this flood occurred in Maitland causing disruption to passenger and coal trains, wiping out thousands of acres of crops and overloading sewerage systems resulting in contaminated water spreading through residential areas.
CMA Chairman Dr Wej Paradice said ‘1951 was a time of relentless flooding in the Hunter Valley, with five major floods recorded at Maitland between 1949 and 1955. The 1951 flood is often overlooked - it wasn’t as high as the record 1955 flood, but it’s impact was immense and it took many months for infrastructure to be repaired and for the community to recover.’
Dr Paradice said ‘the 1951 flood peaked at 10.9m AHD, just 20 cm above the peak of the last major flood in Maitland in June 2007. Over 750 homes were inundated and 3,000 people evacuated. The impacts were widespread, and a reported ‘grave shortage of coal’ into Sydney resulted in ‘the most drastic restrictions on the use of gas, coal and electric lights and power ever imposed in NSW’ at the time.’
‘In response to the devastating floods of the 1950’s, the Lower Hunter flood mitigation scheme was constructed including spillways, levees and floodgates. The scheme is designed to lessen the destructive impacts of floodwaters in Maitland, as demonstrated in the June 2007 flood, but cannot provide total protection against major flood events like 1951.’
Dr Paradice added ‘to raise awareness of the scheme’s limitations and to promote flood awareness in Maitland and the Hunter valley, the CMA has been working closely with the SES for the past five years developing a community flood education program’
SES Hunter Region Controller Greg Perry said ‘the SES and CMA have produced an information kit including a set of fact sheets, information on how to prepare an emergency kit and a DVD containing a flood safety video and footage of the 1955 and 2007 floods. The kit is available free of charge by contacting the SES on 4931 3222 or the CMA on 4930 1030.’
Mr Perry said ‘as we have seen recently in other areas, major flooding can occur at anytime, and with very little notice. The disruption to traffic, utilities including electricity, water and gas and services such as mobile phone networks is inevitable. The anniversary of the 1951 flood is a timely reminder to prepare an emergency kit for the home and office, including a battery-operated radio, torch and valuable documents. A little time invested in preparing for flooding can make all the difference between an inconvenience and a disater.’