State Emergency Service crews have been working hard to repair damage from Monday night's storm this week, but a few members at Port Stephens had a different kind of job recently.
A crew from Port Stephens were returning from a storm callout when they saw a young, severely dehydrated calf had somehow got stuck on the wrong side of a fence at Hinton and been separated from its panicked mum on the other side.
Port Stephens SES local commander Bruce Gendre said part of the unit's training involved large animal rescue, so the members put those skills to the test to reunite the mother and calf.
Mr Gendre said the member, who has his own property, believed the calf was only two days old.
He wasn't sure whether the baby may have wandered off after being frightened by Monday night's storm.
"Baby animals are very much like baby humans, they tend to wander off," Mr Gendre said.
