City venue floods in downpour, gig called off halfway through

The intersection of Steel and King streets in Newcastle West was closed at about 11pm as the road went under, with police monitoring the scene.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Nobbys weather station recorded 45mm of rain between 5.30pm on Thursday and 12.30am on Friday - almost 30mm fell between 10.30pm and 11pm.

The ground floor of the King Street Bandroom was flooded through its emergency doors with what the venue’s operations manager Angus Harper said was “a few inches of water”.

Queensland band The Chats had to abandon their set halfway through.

Mr Harper said there was no permanent damage but the intersection of King and Steel streets had been “a nightmare for 20 years”.

“We have carpet guys in there sucking out the water and testing all equipment this morning,” he told the Herald.

“So we’ll be back open for business as usual tonight.”

Almost half the calls for assistance to the State Emergency Service across NSW came in the SES Northern Zone, which encompasses the Hunter.

SES spokesperson Ben Deakin told ABC radio on Friday morning that 44 of the 100 calls statewide came from the northern region.

He described conditions as a “short, intense burst of rain”, which mainly caused roof problems in areas such as Adamstown Heights, Caves Beach, Swansea, Highfields, Murrays Beach, Maitland, and New Lambton Heights.