The Black Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan recommends building a bund wall (levee) east of Sixth Street and the railway line in South Cessnock. The study area comprises Black Creek and other main creeks including Bellbird, Lavender, Kearsley and Aberdare.

While the plan involves looking at the entire catchment, the initial focus will be on the South Cessnock area.

Several homes in South Cessnock were inundated by the floods of 1990, 2007 and 2015, and flooding in the area can be traced back to the 1920s.

Other recommended options of the plan include house raising and voluntary purchase for houses located in floodways with high hazard and associated risk to life.

“Our main focus is on minimising risk for those residents who are affected by flooding, especially in more frequent storm events, however there is no one simple solution to address the problem,” the council’s strategic asset planning manager, Stephen Long, said. “There are a range of options to reduce the impact on properties throughout the Cessnock City section of the Black Creek catchment area.

“We will be investigating these over the next 12 months and will be approaching land owners once we have sufficient information.”

Council will forward the study to Hunter Water to further investigate channel widening in the Oliver Street drain. The investigation and design stage of the South Cessnock area flood modification outcomes are one of three projects council will apply to the Office of Environment and Heritage for grant funding.

The other projects are flood mitigation works at Swamp Creek (Abermain/Weston) and an updated flood study for Greta.