Maitland SES responded to more than 50 calls for assistance in a week of wild weather which lashed the Hunter and caused flash flooding.
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Wind gusts of up to 94 kilometres per hour smashed Maitland on Wednesday, causing trees and branches to fall across the city.
But it was water-related jobs that kept the local SES unit busiest. Only 9.2mm of rain fell on Wednesday, but the downpour was intense.
Of the 19 jobs Maitland SES received between Wednesday and Thursday, 11 were for leaking rooves, three were for floods and two were for flood threats.
Another 44mm of rain had fallen in Maitland on Thursday before 2pm – the highest single day rainfall total since March.
The wet and windy mid-week followed more strong winds between last Thursday and Sunday when 35 calls for assistance were made.
Those incidents included damaged powerlines, fallen trees and roof damage.
Maitland SES unit spokesperson Alexandra Varley said before this, the last significant rain event was March, when the Bureau of Meteorology issued a moderate flood warning for Paterson and Williams Rivers.
“That event caused more significant damage and rainfall totals,” she said.
“This week has been a mixed bag for most of the east coast as we’ve seen a dust storm move across from the west, vigorous winds last week, bushfires and now heavy rain and flash flooding.”
But Maitland was lucky compared other parts of the state.
In Sydney, more than 100mm of rain was recorded on Wednesday where a "one-in-100-year" event was declared. Three people died, two police officers were injured and Sydney's transport system was shut down.
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