page_title: Newcastle, New South Wales
section_title: June 2007 Hunter Region and Central Coast storms
hierarchical_section_title: Newcastle, New South Wales / Disasters / June 2007 Hunter Region and Central Coast storms
caption_attribution_description: Pasha Bulker
context_page_description: The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas. It is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area which includes most parts of the local government areas of City of Newcastle, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Cessnock, City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council.
  Located at the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 159.9 million tonnes of coal in 2017. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of the Sydney basin.
context_section_description: On 8 June 2007 the Hunter and Central Coast regions were battered by the worst series of storms to hit New South Wales in 30 years. This resulted in extensive flooding and nine deaths. Thousands of homes were flooded and many were destroyed. The Hunter and Central Coast regions were declared natural disaster areas by the State Premier, Morris Iemma, on 8 June 2007. Further flooding was predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology but was less severe than predicted.
  During the early stages of the storms, the 225-metre-long (738 ft) bulk carrier ship MV Pasha Bulker ran aground at Nobbys Beach after failing to heed warnings to move offshore. After the first few attempts failed, the Pasha Bulker was refloated on the third salvage attempt on 2 July 2007 despite earlier fears that the ship would break up. After initially entering the port for minor repairs, it departed under tow on 26 July 2007 for major repairs in Asia.
caption: The MV Pasha Bulker briefly became a local landmark when it was stranded on Nobbys Beach in 2007
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