Do you live behind a Levee?
Yes, you are!
The flood risk for Branxton, Greta and Huntlee comes from the surrounding Creeks Black, Anvil and Sawyers Creek
Anvil Creek Flooding – Flooding on the Anvil Creek River can occur due to heavy rainfall over the Anvil and Red House Creek catchments causing flooding the entire length of the Anvil Creek
Hunter River Flooding – Flooding on the Hunter River can be caused by rainfall over the broader Hunter River and Goulburn River catchments. This causes flooding on the lower reaches and floodplains of the Anvil Creek. The extent of flooding during a large Hunter River flood event can extend upstream to the township of Greta. With Greta on higher ground above the floodplain so widespread flooding within the town as a result of this flooding is unlikely.
Flooding on the Anvil Creek and Hunter Rivers can occur independently of one another or concurrently.
Notable floods for these communities February 1955, June 2007 (10 homes inundated at Branxton), June 2011, February-March and November 2013, April 2015, January 2016, and February 2020 (100 people evacuated at Branxton) over the entire catchment.
To understand what happens in a Branxton and Greta flood, it is important that all residents and businesses know:
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) reads and refers to the Singleton Gauge (210001) Greta Gauge (561016)
SINGLETON GAUGE Dunolly Bridge
|
Height (m) |
Relevance / Action |
|
14.57m |
1955 Peak Height |
|
14.20m |
Peak Height June 2007 |
|
14.07m |
Peak Height 1971 |
|
13.82m |
5% AEP Event (1:20 years) |
|
13.16m |
Peak Height July 2022 |
|
13.00m |
Major Flood Level |
|
12.94m |
10% AEP Event (1:10 year) |
|
12.30m |
Peak Height 1976 |
|
11.50m |
Moderate Flood Level |
|
10.27m |
10% AEP Event (1:10year) |
|
10.00m |
Minor Flood Level |
Both Branxton, Greta and Huntlee lie along the Hunter River catchment.
Note: this sector includes surrounding small towns of Abermain, Heddon Greta, Cliftleigh, Mulbring, Neath, Pelaw Main, Loxford, Stanford Merthyr, Mount Vincent and Weston.
The sector is primarily affected by flooding which occurs on the Wallis Creek, Swampy Creek and Fishery Creek catchments with notable events in 2007, 2015 and 2022. Swamp Creek rises in the Broken Back Range and travels downstream through Neath and Abermain before travelling through the urban area of Weston prior to draining in Wentworth Swamp.
Cessnock Road at Testers Hollow is inundated relatively frequently, resulting in significant detours between Maitland and Cessnock and restricted access to the Hunter Expressway via Cessnock Road. In larger events Cessnock Road is also inundated at Mount Dee, isolating several thousand residents in Gillieston Heights. The April 2015 event resulted in the isolation of the town for more than a week
Areas of Weston and Loxford can be at risk of inundation in serious Swamp Creek events and Cessnock Road at Abermain can close in events greater than 1% AEP.
Cessnock Council Install Flood Warning Systems for Swamp-Fishery Creek and the Cessnock Urban Area.
Flash flood siren alerting systems are proposed to be installed at four locations including: The Siren based Flood Warning Systems are activated by water levels in creeks. Once certain levels are reached, the systems activate sirens to alert residents that live within flood prone areas of rising creek levels,
