– These pictures just in from Maitland where the New England Highway has been closed due to rising floodwater.
– Some motorists made it through as water lapped at the road, however its now right up to the median strip and the road is closed.
– At nearby Louth Park, efforts are underway to rescue horses which were caught in the water, one became entangled in a submerged fence.
– Over at Morpeth our news crew dropped off a bread delivery at a collection point where supplies are being piled up to take by boat over to Hinton.
– 2800 people remain cut off by floodwater.
– 65,000 homes are still without power in the Hunter and 40,000 on the Central Coast.
– And police say an emergency home phone message service has been hacked, and a false message was sent to people in Maitland that schools were being evacuated. They say this was not the case.
