Ghost Street

Newcastle Herald

Saturday August 4, 2007

By INGRID BOWN

GOW Street, Hamilton North, is a merry-go-round of builders, cleaners, labourers and the familiar faces of neighbours in unfamiliar cars from about 7am.

But from 3.30pm each day it becomes a "ghost street".

Hamilton North, like many suburbs in the region, was ravaged by the flood that followed the June long-weekend storms.

The Insurance Council of Australia confirmed yesterday that 63,000 claims had been lodged in the Hunter as a result of the storms, with a total cost of more than $750 million.

But the emotional toll of the storm is evident in Gow Street where residents have been to hell and back since the flood, with up to 85 per cent yet to return to their homes.

"It's actually quite frightening," mother-of-three Suzanne Meldrum, who with her family has temporarily shifted to Nelson Bay, said of the late-afternoon atmosphere.

"A lot of older people have just disappeared. No one knows where they've gone."

Nichole Rutherford, a single mother of one who has lived in four places since the floods and whose gutted home is still drying, said it was not a question of how

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Victims still gone from ghost street

many were yet to move back, but how many were left.

"I saw an ice-cream truck come through the other day and thought, 'good luck, there's no one here'."

She said their street was typical of Hamilton North.

While residents spoke of battling near-total property loss, dislocation, illness, insurance and building headaches, looting and having to leave jobs, they said the disaster had brought them closer together.

"We're so happy to see each other. It's like family. It's really united us," Mrs Meldrum, who drives more than an hour-and-a-half each day to take her daughter to school and back, said.

"You feel homesick. You really want to go home but you can't."

Helen Galvin, who is in temporary accommodation at Merewether with husband Paul and their two children, said at first, everyone "walked around aimlessly" in what looked like a war zone.

"Everyone seemed as lost as each other and we all spoke to each other. We couldn't do anything, we were just waiting," she said.

Retired builder Terry Webber said he had been lucky to be able to stay in his home, where an insurance assessor had come only on Tuesday.

He said at least 11 households in his vicinity had not returned.

"It's been upsetting for me," he said.

Another resident, Karen Wade, said she had made contact with an insurance company, but was still waiting for the matter to be finalised.

A group was organising a Christmas party in the street for the residents of Hamilton North, by which time they hoped most would have returned.

"It's going to be a big 'un," said Wilga Starkey, who has moved to Elermore Vale while building work continues on her home for an expected three months.

"'Either you sit in the corner and say 'poor me, poor me', or you pick up your pieces and move on."

Ms Rutherford said many residents were still shell-shocked and it was hoped the party would bolster spirits.

"Some are not coping well. The loss has been really bad for some people. Others see it as a fresh start," she said.

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Editorial

Page 18

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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