After Singleton's flood situation reached evacuation level earlier this week, the main focus of emergency attention shifted downstream to Maitland on Thursday.
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The Bureau of Meteorology said flood levels were believed to have peaked at Bulga and Singleton, which both experienced major flooding, but Maitland's level was still rising on Thursday and expected to hit a top of 9.5 metres about 7pm.
The communities of Hinton and Luskintyre became isolated due to the flood waters, including Hinton's Victoria Hotel which required the State Emergency Service to ferry kegs of beer across to keep patrons occupied while they wait for flood waters to recede.
In Morpeth, Kyle Fullford's metal fabrication workshop became inundated with water.
He said he put everything up to "hip height" on Wednesday night in anticipation of the deluge, but was stunned at how far it came up by Thursday morning.
"It was quite a shock," he said.
"It's been a bit of a rescue mission, there's plenty of water in there.
"Over the last 24 hours it's just kept rising.
"We haven't had it this high in the five years I've been here."
The workshop owner said he spent Thursday moving as much as he could to even higher ground, and transferring the most expensive equipment out on a forklift to take away in his ute.
"We've been accessing the sheds via kayak," he said.
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Mr Fullford said it was too early to tell what the extent of the damage to the business would be.
"We're a small family business and to see it go under, it's definitely not a nice feeling," he said.
"But we'll keep battling through."
Further up the valley, major flooding was still occurring at Bulga, which Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Olenka Duma said was expected to be the case until at least Monday, but the water height would likely "remain fairly steady" before starting to recede.
The Hunter River at Singleton had come down from major flooding to moderate on Thursday, Ms Duma said.
Properties evacuated around low-lying areas of Singleton on Tuesday night, including Dunolly, Glenridding and Scotts Flat were allowed to return home on Thursday, and the town's evacuation centre at Singleton Heights was closed.
It's been a bit of a rescue mission, there's plenty of water in there. Over the last 24 hours it's just kept rising.
- Kyle Fullford
Emergency helicopters were deployed to the isolated areas of Wollombi, Laguna, Putty and Mount Royal, stocked with much-needed supplies for stranded residents.
The State Emergency Service said Putty and Mount Royal communities have been isolated for more than a week, without power and on limited communication.
Ms Duma said weather conditions were thankfully expected to be a fair bit drier over the next few days, with only some light isolated showers expected in the Hunter.
"However we will see showers increase on Monday and Tuesday throughout Newcastle and the Hunter region as a coastal trough deepens," she said.
Singleton Defence weather station registered its highest daily rainfall total on Tuesday since the bureau began recording there in 2017.
More than 83mm of rain was recorded at the site that day, and 175.6mm has already fallen for the month of March.
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