When Greg O’Connell left home with his children on Wednesday morning he didn’t think he would be stranded outside his home suburb.
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Gillieston Heights became an island on Thursday as rising floodwater surrounded the town and trapped residents.
Mr O’Connell was stranded in Maitland with his daughter Monique and his son Travis, who has special needs.
It meant that 12-year-old Travis, who has an intellectual disability known as MEC P2 Duplication Syndrome, did not have any of his medication for almost a day.
So when State Emergency Service crews powered up their boats yesterday and began to take residents to and from Gillieston Heights to get essential items, Mr O’Connell climbed aboard and retrieved his son’s medication.
The family became trapped on Wednesday morning after Mr O’Connell took his daughter to Francis Greenway High School, which turned out to be closed.
“We got back and we couldn’t get through so we just drove around and went to my mother’s; she lives at Thornton,” he said.
“She didn’t have any power but we stayed there over night.
“I found out the boats were going this morning so I went over and got all of his [Travis’s] stuff.
“He wasn’t quite so well today because he didn’t have his medication.”
Dozens of people gathered at an SES staging area near the Church Street roundabout in Maitland on Wednesday afternoon.
Some were waiting for a boat ride across the water to pick up medication or feed their pets, while others were waiting for family members to be brought across.
Mr O’Connell said at least 20 people were standing around on the Gillieston Heights side of the flood when he arrived.
“It’s quiet. When I first went over there were people fighting about who was more important to get over, but it’s quiet now,” he said.
“We’re all here for the same reason.”
Mr O’Connell said, when the rain began on Monday night, he never imagined that his suburb could be surrounded by floodwater so quickly.
“I knew Testers Hollow flooded, but I’ve never known this road [Cessnock Road] to be flooded the way it has,” he said.
“When we left at 8am yesterday, the water was lapping under the bridge and I thought there was no way it would be [flooded] an hour later.”