Hunter weather: less intense than expected but residents still kept on their toes | photos, video

UPDATE: June 6, 9.30am:

WHILE the weekend’s wild weather didn’t hit the Hunter as hard as expected, some areas were damaged as wild winds and heavy rain stormed through the area.

Most of the damage was on the seaside, with huge waves leaving trails of damage on Stockton and Merewether beaches.

The seaside resort town of Terrigal also copped a beating on Sunday night when huge waves smashed walls at a lakeside lodge, caused severe damage to a boardwalk and battered homes on a beachfront known as millionaires’ row.

UPDATE, 6pm:

FOR so long in the nasty sights of a sometimes rabid Mother Nature, the Hunter appeared to dodge a major bullet when the wild weather forecast to flood and ravage failed to eventuate.

Despite reports of widespread damage both north and south of the Hunter, the region’s gun-shy residents, still getting over the scars of last year’s April superstorm and last January’s floods, came out of the weekend relatively unscathed.

Two potentially-damaging East Coast Lows developed off the mid-north coast and headed south, dumping nearly 200mm of rain at Nelson Bay and other parts of the region but failing to produce the damaging high winds.

The most powerful gusts were felt at Norah Head (96kmh at 12.20am on Sunday) and Nobbys (61kmh at 2.14am on Sunday) compared to constant 100kmh-plus gales elsewhere along the east coast.

By 4.30pm on Sunday, Nobbys (77mm), Maitland (70mm) and Cooranbong (89mm) all received good rainfall.

It caused several low-lying roads, and the troublesome area of the Industrial Highway at Mayfield, to be closed for several hours.

The Hunter’s State Emergency Service reported 328 callouts since last Thursday, most being for sandbags and leaking roofs.

They had completed 316 of those jobs by 4pm on Sunday and were preparing to send crews to the devastated areas across the north coast, Sydney and south coast.

”It was just much-needed rain really,’’ Ms Hyde said.

“We have dodged the bullet for a change.’’

There were reports of some trees down across Port Stephens and Lake Macquarie, although the damage was believed to be minimal.

Power was lost to some Nelson Bay residents on Saturday night, although it was restored to all but but about 80 customers by early Sunday.

Police were forced to turn surfers away from Stockton Beach on Sunday afternoon after at least two men neded to be rescued by jetski in the huge surf.

Across the harbour and down the coast at Newcastle Beach, other surfers were being towed onto the large swells by jetskis as a hardy bunch of onlookers braved the elements.

The severe weather warning and flood watches remained in place across the Hunter on Sunday night, as the second East Coast Low made its way south off the Hunter coast.

UPDATE, 2.30pm:

A SECOND potentially damaging East Coast Low has developed off the mid north coast and was moving south, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

In a severe weather warning issued at 2.30pm, the bureau said the system was off the mid-north coast about 2pm and should continue south towards the Sydney coast on Sunday night, and to the Illawarra/South Coast overnight.

It was unclear what conditions the East Coast Low would generate along the Hunter coast.

“The highest winds and heaviest rainfall will strongly depend on the position of the low,’’ the bureau said.

Heavy rain was likely to cause flash flooding south of “about Taree” on Sunday, contracting to the southern half of the coast overnight.

Widespread rain totals of 100mm are expected, with local areas possibly receiving over 200mm. Hourly rain rates up to 70mm may be experienced.

Rain and winds had eased in the Northern Rivers and northern parts of the mid north coast district. This easing trend will extend southwards with the low's movement.

Meanwhile, police began turning away surfers at Stockton on Sunday afternoon after at least two people needed to be rescued from massive surf. 

EARLIER:

WILD weather forecast for the Hunter has been less intense than expected, but Mother Nature has still kept residents on their toes and, in some cases, in the dark.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has recorded more than 50 millimetres of rain in Newcastle since Friday.

Rainfall and wind gusts on Saturday were weaker than expected, but a severe weather warning remains in place for Sunday.

Hunter SES community engagement officer Amanda Hyde said the region's units had taken about 300 requests for assistance since Thursday, with half of those being for sandbags.

It included 143 jobs for Maitland (mostly sandbags) with Lake Macquarie (21), Newcastle (21), Tomaree (19) Cessnock (15) and Port Stephens (8) all receiving requests for assistance.

Ms Hyde said the SES would continue to monitor the weather until Sunday afternoon after damaging high winds forecast for the Hunter failed to eventuate.

Ausgrid said more than 1700 homes were without power in Nelson Bay on Saturday night. Most were back with power overnight Saturday.

The weather bureau is predicting wind gusts of between 35 to 50 kmh in the early afternoon.

Surf conditions are hazardous, with a swell off the Hunter coast of between four to six metres.

A flood watch is in place for the Myall River, including Bulahdelah and Wallis Lake, and the Hunter River, including Paterson Williams.

IT WAS all hands on deck at Avoca Beach Surf Club on Saturday night after two large waves hit the north-facing clubhouse and entered the building.

Emergency text messages were sent out to surf club members and within a few minutes more than 60 people, including children, were building an emergency sand wall to protect the club from waves at high tide.

A club member said it was rare for the clubhouse, which is close to the beach, to be threatened because the majority of storms hit from the south.

"We put a sand wall up tonight but we're expecting even bigger seas in the morning so we thought we'd get ready for it," the club member said on Saturday night.

Terrigal Beach was hard hit by huge seas on Saturday night, and consistent but not so large seas on Sunday morning.

The normally protected Terrigal was pounded by the storm from the north, with damage to the beachfront seawall and the loss of tens of thousands of tonnes of sand.

Shops facing north remained closed as heavy rain that was almost horizontal at times slammed the normally busy resort town, and heavy seas threw waves on to the boardwalk as far as the surf club.