WANGI Wangi residents fear their properties will collapse into Lake Macquarie as the serene view that first sold them on their homes literally slips away before their eyes.
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Neighbours Shirley Vaughan and Helen and Danny Winter have seen their once beautifully manicured backyards on Dobell Drive start crumble into the lake, taking a hedge, trees, boulders and a bird feeder.
Ms Vaughan fears her verandah will be next.
Desperate to fix the problem, the trio are in a tussle with Lake Macquarie City Council about where the responsibility lies - the locals maintaining issues with the flow of stormwater are wreaking havoc.
"They never inform us of what their findings are, or where we stand, or what they're going to do about it or whether they've just walked away and gone 'bad luck'," Ms Vaughan said.
"If they approve for us to build here, doesn't matter whether it's this year or 20 years ago, shouldn't they back that up?
"Yes, you're building on the side of the lake on a sloped block, but they told us it was alright to build there, we put our faith in their hands."
Yes, you're building on the side of the lake on a sloped block, but they told us it was alright to build there, we put our faith in their hands.
- Shirley Vaughan
The Winters home was built in 1998, and Ms Vaughan's around 1996 - none of them have had any issues with landslips until heavy rains pelted the Hunter in the past 12 months.
It all started around November, when cracks started to show at Ms Vaughan's house before the issue spread next door to the Winters' around April.
Not long after that, the retaining wall on Ms Vaughan's property collapsed, exposing pipes and taking her garden with it.
She said when it rains, stormwater pours out from the exposed land underneath her patio.
At the Winters', what's left of their backyard looks much like a construction site and at the front - a sinkhole has opened up next to the easement on their property.
"They called Danny last week to say that it's not their responsibility and that if there is a drainage issue, it's not a priority," Mrs Winter said.
"They basically told me the other day it's just all the top soil on our property washing away and I said the only reason it's washing away is because it's filling in what's been washed away from the reserve," Mr Winter said.
"He said just pull all the fence and walls out and shake it a bit, let it keep going into the lake - and I went, 'well what, until it comes right up to the house?' He went, 'that's where you live, that's what you get'."
The cliff face behind their homes has also begun to slip away, with boulders and at least three trees falling into the lake in recent months.
The trio feel the council hasn't addressed their concerns and that communication around the issue has been poor.
They believe stormwater isn't flowing correctly off the road and that it is contributing to the landslip issue at the rear of their properties.
Lake Macquarie City Council maintains it launched an investigation after it was made aware of the embankment failure off Dobell Drive in April.
"That investigation found no evidence that our infrastructure had contributed to the failure," a council spokesman said.
"Testing and investigation confirmed that there was no leakage present from our stormwater pipe on the property, nor had the stormwater from the road above contributed to the failure."
Mrs Winter said she believes something has caused a change in the flow of water, with waterfalls that weren't there before now being seen off the reserve out back in wet weather.
The neighbours have been advised to contact their insurance, but they're concerned that without fixing the cause of the issue, the landslip will continue to drag their backyards away.
"They asked us about insurance, suggesting insurance can fix it - what's the point of insurance fixing it if the next rain it all comes back down?" she said.
"We're trying to get the problem that originally caused the issue fixed - to find out why suddenly after 20 years the water course has changed because it must have."
Mrs Winter said no such issues had occurred after the June 2007 storms that caused the Pasha Bulker to run ashore on Nobbys beach.
"It certainly hasn't been any good for anyone's mental health whatsoever, especially if you're not sure if your house is going to slide as well," Mrs Winter said.
"Somebody complained from Wangi that everyone in Wangi shouldn't pay their rates and see what happens then, because look at Beach Road.
"We're second class citizens over here."
Ms Vaughan has lived in her house since 2003 and said through previous rains, nothing like this has ever happened.
"I can't have my grandchildren here, it's too dangerous," she said.
"I haven't been able to have them over for eight months or more - it just has so many effects on you.
"There's some things you just deal with but we don't know where to turn or what to do."
Dobell Drive isn't the only street that has been impacted by heavy rain across the Hunter in recent months.
Less than five minutes away on the same strip of shoreline, residents of Beach Road at Wangi Wangi have been left frustrated by 'months of inaction' on a gaping landslip that has closed the road on either side.
Cracks began to show after a water main burst earlier this year - relentless rainfall saw the issue snowball into a full-on landslip in April.
A council spokeswoman told the Herald in July that the site is being managed for safety until repairs can take place.
"Council has engaged specialist geotechnical consultants to investigate the cause of land subsidence and provide advice on treatment options," she said.
"The landslip has continued to move due to the recent wet weather.
"Works will be programmed subject to confirmation of scope, completion of design and availability of funding under NSW Disaster Assistance arrangements."
At the time there was no definitive date for when the road will be fixed, and in the interim, buses, garbage trucks and delivery drivers have been unable to get through.
Some residents of Beach Road have had to back trailers out all the way to the top of the street because of the road closure.
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