ONE year on from the April “Super Storm” that impacted much of the Hunter, the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) continues to work with impacted communities to help them prepare themselves and their homes for future weather events.
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NSW SES Hunter Region Controller Alexandra McFadden said the storm was the largest in terms of number of requests for assistance, in the services’ 60-year history.
More than 8000 jobs were completed during the two-week response period, involving 500 local NSW SES members supported by an additional 700 “out of area” volunteers from the NSW SES and other emergency services from across the country.
“The After Action Review highlighted a need to increase the number of qualified swift water rescue technicians in the NSW SES,” Ms McFadden said.
“We now have more than double the members with this specialist qualification in the Hunter.
“Recruitment drives have also been successful in increasing membership, and these will continue into next month’s National Volunteering Week.”
In particular, NSW SES Units in the Upper Hunter are seeking to attract new members to Aberdeen, Scone, Denman and Merriwa Units.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, phone 1800 201 000.
“We have also been working closely with lower Hunter floodplain communities to ensure that information collected from the April 2015 flood is captured and entered into our existing Flood Intelligence Database,” Ms McFadden said.
“Every flood is different, and even experienced, well prepared rural property owners said the speed of this event caught them off-guard.
“While the NSW SES is well-known for responding to floods and storms, one of our key roles is helping communities to become more prepared.
“We are busy all year round developing community safety plans and at present we have 18 projects in place, working with a diverse range of stakeholders including community groups, neighbourhood centres, multicultural service providers, businesses and local councils.
“One of our projects is assisting the Millers Forest/Duckenfield community in developing their own Flood Response Plan.
“This includes a telephone tree and asset register to identify who has generators and hand held UHF radios – very valuable resources when telecommunications go down for days at a time, like we saw last April.
“The plan also nominates ‘flood wardens’ who will contact those who are vulnerable, such as the elderly and those with medical conditions.
“Projects like these are great examples of how we can help to build community resilience.”
