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As floodwaters rose in the New South Wales Hunter region last week, one family decided to take measures to protect their car but were instead hit with a fine from the local council.

Roads were raging torrents of water on July 6 and Amber Evans' backyard was completely flooded.

As the emergency unfolded, her husband decided to move their car to higher ground to avoid it being inundated.

READ MORE: Rainy months here to stay, Indian Ocean index predicts

"It was like two inches from coming inside the house," Evans told 9news.com.au.

"We didn't feel safe moving our car back into the gutter as it was full of water, the driveway was full of water."

The following day, the family was fined $283 by Cessnock City Council for illegally parking on a median strip.

"Any other day of the week I could understand but we were parked there to save our car from being flooded," Evans said.

The day the fine was issued, Evans said, the area was still under a flood warning.

The family's backyard was flooded, the toilets couldn't be used as the septic tank was underwater, and their children had been evacuated.

"My seven-year-old was at his grandmother's home crying about whether he was going to come back to a house," she said.

"I found it's stressful enough going through the flooding, even though we were lucky for (floodwaters) not to go inside, without needing to add on the next day the rangers are out fining us for having our cars parked safely.

"It is very disheartening to see Cessnock City Council fining residents for saving their possessions."

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Cessnock City Council said in a statement that parking fines were issued to cars "illegally parked in areas that had been, but were no longer, subject to flooding".

"The ranger who issued the tickets was unaware that the street had flooded the previous day as there was no evidence such as floodwater, flood debris or road closed signage," the statement read.

"Council has written to Revenue NSW advising that it would support a caution being issued instead of a fine."

Evans said having the fine downgraded to a caution isn't enough and called on the council to apologise to residents who were fined.

"It is still a mark on my husband's licence, in return, that can affect his job," she said.

"It's not about getting the fine taken away, it is the fact this shouldn't be happening.

"During a flood event, a natural disaster, it wasn't the time to be out fining people whose cars were on higher ground."

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Cessnock Councillor Ian Olsen said fining residents during the flooding event has made council look like "fools" and undermines the support the council is trying to provide for victims impacted by the recent disaster.

"It is a bad look for council to be fining people during the floods," he said.

"Why the ranger went down there and did that, I don't understand. It's bad enough having your house flood."

Olsen defended the Evans family and said they hadn't parked the car in a dangerous position but it was simply on a median strip.

He claimed rangers were a "power to themselves".

"Our rangers need to be more lenient, just allow residents to be able to keep their cars safe," he said.

A Brisbane woman has admitted to smothering her father with a pillow after he pleaded with her to end his life.

Rebecca Louise Burden pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder over the 2020 incident at a Sandgate nursing home.

The Supreme Court heard Burden's father, who suffers dementia and an acquired brain injury, cried on his bed while telling his daughter: "Please just kill me, I don't want to be here anymore."

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The court heard Burden covered her father's face with a cushion and attempted to smother him for approximately 20-25 seconds before removing it when he kicked his legs in struggle.

Burden described the moment to Justice Soraya Ryan as a "lapse of judgement" and said she accepts full responsibility for her actions.

Defence barristers argued it was an act of "mercy", not malice, and the case against Burden was borne from her full admissions to police.

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