South Cessnock Flood Mitigation Construction

Construction of the Bund Wall complete.

Council has engaged Public Works Authority (PWA) to undertake the Construction of the Bund Wall. 

Residents will notice an increase in heavy truck movements along Quarrybylong Street, from the end of August 2024 until the construction is complete. 

Construction of the Channel diversion and widening/pedestrian and cycleway bridge is now complete.

Bolte Civil have been engaged by Cessnock City Council to complete the stormwater channel widening at Railway Street. This project will include demolition works, earthworks, concreting and retaining wall construction.

Construction works are planned to commence from 6^th December 2023 (weather permitting) with preliminary establishment, site survey and demolition works. 

The pre-construction period is complete. This period involved an independent peer review, resulting in a formal verification of the design, which satisfied grant funding requirements.

A landscape architect was engaged as part of the detailed design process to enhance visual amenity for the main scheme components, being the bund wall and the diversion channel.

The tender period will commence in April 2023 provided the alternative design is accepted.

Council has now engaged the NSW Public Works to project manage the tender and construction phases, as well as to assist Council in the finalisation of pre-construction activities. 

Channel diversion and widening - Complete - downstream from the junction of the Kearsley Channel and Oliver Street Channel, including demolition and realignment of part of the existing cycleway nearby, including removal and replacement of the existing pedestrian/cycleway bridge. Completed April 2024. 

Construction of a bund wall - running along the eastern side of the railway line parallel to Sixth Street Channel, as well as associated drainage structures. Completed May 2025. 

Levee & road raising - a small levee parallel to and across Quarrybylong Street, plus raising Quarrybylong Street near Edgeworth Street. 

Channel diversion and widening - downstream from the junction of the Kearsley Channel and Oliver Street Channel, including demolition and realignment of part of the existing cycleway nearby, including removal and replacement of the existing pedestrian/cycleway bridge.

The Channel diversion and widening was completed in April 2024.

Construction of bund wall - running along the eastern side of the railway line parallel to Sixth Street Channel, as well as associated drainage structures.

Construction of the bund wall was completed in May 2025.

The levee & road raising works are the next and final stage.

South Cessnock has a history of flooding that has been made worse by mine subsidence of up to one metre since the 1980s. In a 1 in 100 Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) flood, 16 homes experience over floor flooding and 71 homes experience yard inundation.

The bund wall will create a storage basin to detain and slowly release flood waters, thereby mitigating the impacts of flooding in the South Cessnock area.

The South Cessnock Flood Mitigation Scheme:

• Will reduce the height of flood waters to pre-subsidence levels.
• Lowers average flood depth 14cm relative to average pre-subsidence depth.
• No home will experience over floor flooding in a 1 in 100 year AEP flood.
• Safe pedestrian access to all homes in 1 in 100 year AEP flood.

The total cost of the South Cessnock Flood Mitigation Scheme is $5,955,000

Part of this project has been jointly funded by:

• Commonwealth and NSW Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements
• Commonwealth under the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program
• Subsidence Advisory NSW
• Hunter Water