BY DAKOTA TAIT
Residents in Gillieston Heights say they're facing a crisis and in need of food and supplies, as floodwaters continue to cut residents off from both Maitland and Cessnock.
It's understood, as of Tuesday, ferry services from Testers Hollow were unable to run, due to bollards under the water blocking their way.
Locals say the shelves at IGA are bare bones, with little in the way of bread or basic foodstuffs.
Resident Kelly Renfrew says the emergency response is falling short.
"It's not up to scratch, it's not even comparable to last time," she said. "Last time the Salvation Army were doing helicopter drops. There were dry goods brought in.
"People didn't have to go and pay $8.50 for a loaf of bread, people that don't have money."
Ms Renfrew has welcomed the support of Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison and Mayor Philip Penfold, but says there's little in the way of assistance from emergency services.
Gillieston Heights has been supported by helicopter in prior flood events, but residents say most of the donations this time have come from members of the public on the outside.
A number of locals have taken to social media, saying they've been unable to organise food deliveries with SES crews.
"There's varying degrees of economic capacity here," Ms Renfrew said. "We have a huge cohort of elderly, there's disabled people, we have group homes here. It's quite a varied crowd.
"And then you've got the people like myself that have been in [COVID] isolation for a week and have struggled to get anything delivered.
"I had to ask the Mayor for bread."
"We had 2,000 people last time - we've got in excess of 5,000 here as of today. I don't know how they think this is going to work."
Residents are being urged to be patient, but people in urgent need of food, supplies, or medical support are urged to contact the SES at 132 500.
The SES is holding a community meeting with residents at the Gillieston Heights Community Hub at 6pm on Tuesday evening.
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| Image credit: Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison. |
