Anger floods over

By Tania Martin
JUDY Macalister-Passauer is fed up with council inaction after being subjected to more than 10 years of flooding.
The Olinda woman said it was the result of inadequate drainage off the two roads, and that the Shire of Yarra Ranges had shown little interest in fixing the problem.
Ms Macalister-Passauer said her home on the corner of Upper Coonara and Mernda roads was always the hardest hit after rain, and she had been calling on the council for the past 10 years to do something about the flooding.
“When it rains – half an inch of rain in 10 minutes – the drains can’t cope and a torrent of water floods into my yard,” she said.
“I get all the road debris washing into my place – I am left with a clean-up bill every time.”
Ms Macalister-Passauer said her house was the point of least resistance.
“There is nowhere for it to go, it spills down my drive and makes a great big muddy bog,” she said.
Ms Macalister-Passauer said the council had been contacted numerous times to find a solution but nothing had happened.
Nearby resident and lawyer Simon Begg said the council’s “willingness to fix the problem was virtually nil”
He believes nothing is being done to fix the problem because the council believed it could get away with it.
Ms Macalister-Passauer also broke her leg two years ago after tripping over the bitumen on the corner of her property.
She said the bitumen was continually being ripped up by garbage trucks as they rounded the corner of the street.
But, Ms Macalister-Passauer said the council failed to take any responsibility or liability for the accident.
She said the flood clean-up had cost her in excess of $10,000 over the past 10 years.
She is fed up with the council’s inaction but has no way of fighting it.
“I can’t afford to take them to court, I don’t have the money to sue,” she said.
All Ms Macalister-Passauer wants is for the council to agree to fix the road.
“There is a difference between doing nothing and getting out there and to do something to fix the road,” she said.
Shire spokesman James Martin said the council had allocated $82,000 in its draft 2009/10 budget to undertake drain improvements in Mernda Road.
However, the council decline to comment on Ms Macalister-Passauer claims that they had done little to help her.