The Latest Breaking News from Hunter River

More local government areas across the Hunter region have been declared natural disaster zones, making federal-state relief money available to more people affected by the floods that have inundated many parts of NSW this week.

Disaster-declared towns like Maitland and Dungog breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, while on the other side of the Hunter River, suburbs that succumbed to rising floodwaters have been left in the lurch.

UPDATE: Hunter River peaks at Maitland - latest road closures

Major flooding at Singleton is expected to rise well levels that peaked in March 2022, the State Emergency Service said in a statement Wednesday night.

Ausgrid has warned it is on standby to shut off power supply to Singleton is conditions worsen.

The NSW Hunter Valley is the SES's biggest concern for today as river levels rise, with "intense rainfall" also expected to continue to pound the Mid North Coast.

The second crime scene established on the bank of the Hunter River, up-stream from where a diver died with $20 million worth of cocaine nearby, showed signs of outstanding drugs brought in on the shipment.

Organised Crime Squad detectives are investigating after a diver died on the bank of the Hunter River, at Newcastle harbour, with packages cocaine worth an estimated $20 million.

Police say they only found "a portion" of a cocaine shipment they estimate has a street value of $120m near the body of a diver on the banks of the Hunter River.

A state government proposed plan would invoke a blanket order to upstream farmers to stop drawing irrigation water from the river's tidal pools when salinity levels reached a triggering threshold further downstream near Miller's Forest.

For four generations, members of the Osborn family have farmed land by the Hunter River at Pitnacree, and they hope there will be a fifth generation, but they now worry that has been cast into doubt because of a proposed NSW government rule that will cut into when they can…