Water worriers

By EMMA SUN
A MOUNT Evelyn resident has called on Yarra Ranges Council to deal with the increasing flood issues in the wake of recent heavy rains.
Ken Mitchell, who has lived in the town for more than 30 years, said flooding had been a problem for many years and got progressively worse year after year.
He said he hoped the council would put more drains in.
“We were inundated last Sunday night with the heavy rains and our house flooded up until Monday morning,” he said.
“It’s almost given now that as soon as there is significant rainfall, you know it’s going to happen again.”
Mr Mitchell said because his house was in a gully, the waters would come right up to his back door and overflow through the door, which also prevented him from getting into his house through the back.
“The main issue is that floods are a result of there not being any council stormwater infrastructure in the ground,” he said.
“Until that can be placed in the ground so the people above us have got somewhere to connect their stormwater to, the water will just run on the ground and collect at our place.”
Billanook Ward Councillor Tim Heenan said many people had come to him with concerns about flooding to homes, and the council was working towards resolving flood issues.
“The haphazard way the Shire of Lillydale had dealt with major infrastructure issues in Mount Evelyn are coming back to haunt us big time,” he said.
“There is more and more flooding because average rainfall has been far exceeded, which is very worrying to residents because they haven’t had to cope with scenarios like this for about 20 years.”
Cr Heenan said the council was currently undertaking drainage works in many streets in Mount Evelyn, including Alice Street, Hereford Road and Joy Avenue.
He encouraged residents to contact the council with their concerns regarding flooding so it could go about sorting out solutions.
“We are looking at where we need more substantial infrastructure so we really need vigilance from residents because if council doesn’t know where the hotspots are, we can’t plan for the future,” he said.
Montrose was also hit hard last week, receiving about 35 millimetres of rain in 24 hours.
Lilydale SES member Craig Hoenderop said it caused flood damage to many properties.
“With the ground being so saturated, the rain had nowhere to go so puddles would build up, join together and flood people’s doorways,” he said.
Mr Hoenderop said the SES was also called out to a number of incidents where houses were flooded due to home gutters not being maintained and encouraged residents to clean their gutters regularly.
“When gutters are not being cleared, rain can flood into the roof or the inside of the building so we remind the public to do their property maintenance during these times,” he said.
“That way, it relieves us from doing some of those jobs and the gutters won’t overflow.”