The devastation the 2007 Pasha Bulker storm left behind is yet to be matched after nine lives were lost and well over $1 billion worth of damage was caused.
The 40,000 tonne Panamanian vessel played a part in many people's lives Friday 8th June 10 years ago, including Westpac Rescue Helicopter crewman Glen Ramplin who played a big part in bringing 22 crewmen off the Pasha Bulker to shore.
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| Image Dave Barnett |
Before he knew it Glen and his crew were in a helicopter looking straight at a big red ship which you could've been mistaken for thinking was parked in the centre of the city.
Glen couldn't thank his crew enough for having his back while he helped crewmen off the deck of the Pasha Bulker in what were almost cyclonic conditions in the smaller of the two rescue helicopters after the Bell 142 chopper was diverted from the ship to Clarencetown where local couple Bob and Linda Jones had been swept away.
"I've never experienced the wind the way it was, it was gusting over 100km/hr and made it quite difficult for the pilot to maintain his hover above the ship because of the wind gusting and the fact that the ship was still moving around and because we had to walk through an oil spill on the actual deck so once we were up on the hatch cover it was, I described it like being on an ice skating rink," said Glen.
Video courtesy Dave Barnett
Former Lord Mayor of Newcastle John Tate says the gravity of the situation really didn't sink in until the weekend when flood waters started to take over parts of the city.
"We weren't aware of how bad it was going to be but then, of course, the next day and overnight we were very much aware that severe flooding had taken place particularly in Wallsend and certainly other locations in the city area, in the middle suburbs and that became a concern - people's lives were at risk, cars were strewn everywhere and people's homes were damaged."
The former Lord Mayor believes the city learnt a lot from the disastrous storms but nevertheless "emergency services did a fine job and we were able to do as much as we could to get things tidied up (that weekend) and that went on for the next several weeks of course".
Wallsend's town centre hasn't been the same since the 2007 storm, businesses were left damaged beyond repair and shop fronts have been left empty ever since.
Now a business owner in Cardiff, Max McCorkell says at the time if there was something substantial done by the council to bring the street back to life they would've stayed, but it wasn't the case.
"I'm afraid council were very lax in that regard, it was all pen on paper and word of mouth and that was it, there was no physical action taken by the council to remedy the problem."
Now the council are working towards raising all three bridges into the town centre and promoting ideas for better access via cycleways and pathways, but former business owners think it could still be too little, too late.
