Another South Cessnock resident has spoken out about how the suburb is faring after the April superstorm and what they would like to see happen to fix flooding in the area.
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Like John Hartnett of Oliver Street, Gordon Avenue resident Jan Crosdale is still out of her house seven months after the storm and said it is not just her who is still affected.
Mrs Crosdale said that a handful of other local homes are also still waiting to be repaired, and feels that South Cessnock is overlooked.
“I feel like we’re the forgotten people around here,” she said.
“It’s the same people who have to go through it all the time.”
Mrs Crosdale has lived in her house for 75 years and said it has been flooded on three occasions – 1990, June 2007 and April this year.
She believes this has been more than enough time and warning for council to have fixed the issue.
“They should have done something since 2007,” she said.
“They’ve had eight years to do something.”
“They get the same answer every time they do a survey.”
Due to an asbestos issue, most of the interior of Mrs Crosdale’s home has been removed including the rounded ceiling corners and arched entries which she fears will not look the same again.
“It was just lovely [before the storm],” she said.
“But I don’t think they can put it back like that.”
After her house was gutted, Mrs Crosdale moved in with her granddaughter before spending time with each of her three sons, but decided to rent as she did not want to further impose on her family.
Her rent is being subsidised under insurance.
But she said she is anxious every time it rains that her already-damaged home will be set back even further.
“It’s in the back of your mind all the time,” she said.
“My blood pressure has been up and down, I don’t know how many times.
“You shouldn’t have to live with this anxiety.”
She would like to see a retention basin installed or the drains deepened before it happens again.
The Cessnock City Black Creek Flood Risk Management Study is currently being finalised by council’s flood consultants after recent community workshop outcomes and will be presented to council by November 30.
The South Cessnock area, as outcomes of the final stages of the study, has been listed in council’s four-year rolling drainage capital works program (2016-2019) for more localised drainage investigations.
Hunter Water, which owns the drains in South Cessnock, has no immediate plans to augment the drains.