The State Emergency Service (SES) response to “superstorm” floods that inundated New South Wales Hunter Valley and took three lives “could have been improved,” an official admitted.

An inquest was told that the April 2015 “superstorm” brought strong winds and heavy rain to a large area, as well as a two-hour “cloud burst” over Dungog, which counsel assisting Mark Cahill tagged as “an entirely unpredicted localised weather anomaly.”

The deadly floodwaters claimed the lives of three Dungog residents – Robin Macdonald, 68; Brian Wilson, 72; and Colin Webb, 79. The flood was 2.4 metres higher than the flood peak recorded in 2007, while the Paterson River peaked at 16.1m.

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During the inquest, SES Commissioner Mark Smethurst admitted that the service response to the emergency “could have been improved,” and that the agency has “been working to improve our systems and procedures" since the event, 9News reported.

The Dungog floods occurred amid the three days of a superstorm that also whipped Sydney and the Central Coast.

SES volunteers responded to more than 10,000 calls; while the Insurance Council of Australia logged a total of $129 million worth of claims at the time, the report said.


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