Sixty years is a long time, but for those who endured the 1955 Flood it still seems like yesterday.
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Torrential rain fell across the Hunter Valley in the last week of February, with countless rivers and creeks bursting their banks.
More than two dozen people lost their lives and tens of thousands had to be rescued.
In one 24-hour period Merriwa received 264mm and Murrurundi around 225mm as the rain came down, eventually taking a wall of water downstream through Singleton and Maitland.
The flood created an inland sea the size of England and Wales on both sides of the Great Dividing Range.
On the 60th anniversary of the 1955 Flood these pictures are a powerful reminder of the impact this natural disaster had on local communities.
Images are courtesy of the Soil Conservation Service, the SES, Mrs Heather Hayden, Brian White, Shane Delforce and the Muswellbrook Shire Local Family History Society Inc.