Politics & Council
20 January, 2024
Drainage overflow distress - the flood aftermath
THREE people who have seen water gush through their homes after the summer storms are calling for better drainage in towns and along roads. The three - in Wedderburn, Korong Vale and near Pyramid Hill - say maintenance of drains needs to improve...
THREE people who have seen water gush through their homes after the summer storms are calling for better drainage in towns and along roads.
The three - in Wedderburn, Korong Vale and near Pyramid Hill - say maintenance of drains needs to improve.
And they said their voices have failed to be heard, in one case for more than a decade.
SHEEP SHELTER
UNDER VERANDAH
JARROD Treacy was all set to move back into his home after repairs were finished before Christmas to his home on the Boort-Pyramid Road, near Yarrawalla, damaged in the 2022 October flood emergency.
The farm maintenance business owner, in remission from throat cancer, had new furniture and whitegoods ready to make a return to his home of more than 20 years.
Then the region’s third dump tried to push too much water through roadside culverts that Mr Treacy said had not been maintained and should have been replaced.
“Back after 2011 I was able to show insurer RACV the hydrologist report that said flooding was from a culvert problem,” he said.
“The house is a metre off the ground ... the water just came through. The septic will need to be repaired again.”
He said a neighbour’s fence was cut to allow his hobby farm sheep and cows to move to safer ground.
“They just came back through the water. The sheep sheltered under the verandah.”
Mr Treacy said there were four culverts along the road that needed to be maintained or replaced.
“One culvert was knee-deep in dirt before the floods,” he said.
It is the fourth time he has been flooded since 2011, Mr Treacy said:
“This is a joke. My insurance will go through the roof and it could have been avoided.
Mr Treacy met with Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh at the weekend.
“Unfortunately, Jarrod’s problem is more man-made than an act of God. His property mostly floods because the culverts along his stretch of the Boort-Pyramid Road to Pyramid Hill aren’t just blocked; they are in need of major overhaul – including one which has caused the road to part collapse,” Mr Walsh said.
“He tells me his pleas to VicRoads and the government for a permanent solution to the problems have fallen on disinterested and deaf ears.
“Jarrod isn’t asking for much – beyond getting his life back,” Mr Walsh said.
DOUBLE WHAMMY
AND A GYPSY FORTNIGHT
YVONNE CASHEN was getting organised to cook Christmas lunch for 40 people at the Korong Vale hotel when she saw water going through her timber home.
“By 10am it was right through the house but I still went back to the pub and cooked meals for 17 people,” she said.
“I stayed at the hotel for a few days, a friend’s place and now I have had another friend lend a caravan. It’s been the life of a gypsy ... it’s a friggin nightmare.”
Yvonne had time to sandbag for the second deluge in early January, keeping water at bay, but then the third dump again pushed water into the house.
With most of her furniture damaged or destroyed and fans running almost non-stop to dry the house last week, Yvonne said she first raised concerns about drainage on the railway reserve opposite her property.
Water pushed back from the drain overgrown with grass and into her yard this year as it did in the 2010-2011 floods.
“Council asked VicTrack to reinstate the natural levy back then. That was not done.”
A V/Line spokesperson said: “We regularly conduct rail reserve maintenance across our network including fire prevention slashing, herbicide spraying and collecting illegally dumped rubbish.
“Our crews also regularly inspect and monitor drains and culverts we manage in the Korong Vale area and prioritise works if required. We completed the fire prevention slashing program in the Korong Vale area in the lead-up to summer and more slashing will be carried out if required.
A V/Line background note said: “We thank the community for their interest in the upkeep of the area.”
CULVERT WASH AND
TRUCKS CREATE WAVES
DRAINAGE issues on the Calder Highway at Wedderburn and trucks driving through floodwaters have Donna Richardson concerned about impacts from future storms.
The family home has been flooded twice - Christmas Day and again a week later.
Donna was in Adelaide on Christmas Day when friend Kylie Cunningham helped rescue husband Andrew and pet dog Harry from rising water.
“Our home is on two levels - the entire house, the yard, the garden flooded,” she said.
“And trucks driving through water have been creating a tidal wave. I don’t know why the road isn’t just closed when it rains like this.”
With Donna back after Christmas, she and Andrew were living at home until Andrew’s asthma was irritated by the damp conditions.
When the second dump came a day after New Year, they were at their High Street property cleaning up. “As soon as the rain started, we turned the power off and literally within five minutes the roads flooded,” she said.
Donna said a drain opposite their home had been inspected a month earlier and listed for maintenance by Loddon Shire.
Donna and Andrew bought their home three years ago after being told it had not flooded in 2010-2011.
“In 2022, the water came within half an inch of our front door,” she said.
““This time it’s come though twice.
“I’m worried about the build up of debris in drains,” Donna said.