Watery trauma

By Lia Bichel
SES CREWS were flat out during heavy rain last week, when they responded to dozens of calls in Casey and rescued one driver trapped in flood waters.
Volunteers with the Narre Warren SES responded to 34 calls between 7am on Thursday and 1pm on Friday, mostly relating to flood and building damage in the Cranbourne and Pearcedale areas, unit controller Chris Kelly said.
SES members also had to remove fallen trees and rescue a driver from a car in Endeavour Hills.
“A car went though a VicRoads road block and got stuck in the water,” Mr Kelly said.
“The driver had to be rescued.”
Mr Kelly said the incident served as a reminder to drivers to obey road blocks.
One of the houses SES members attended was in The Grove at Hampton Park.
Chris Coughlan-Ward said his yard flooded and he feared his house would as well after water poured onto his property from the land behind his home.
Mr Coughlan-Ward said he had asked the council to fix the drains behind his house, between Shrives and Pound Roads, after floods caused $150,000 damage to his home in February last year.
“All the run-off comes behind my place and my neighbours and it’s just a big mess,” he said.
“I even built a retaining wall to hold the water, because council won’t do anything about the drains. They said they can’t do anything because it’s private land. But they need to do something or our house will flood again.”
City of Casey Director of Emergency Management Greg Wood said there was a private open drain at the rear of properties in The Grove and the council had provided a culvert under the shared path in Shrives Road to allow water to drain away from the open drain.
Mr Wood said following the heavy rain on Thursday evening, the city of Casey co-ordinated a response to help manage the effect of rainfall in the municipality.
“Council officers spent the last few days investigating the impacts of the rainfall and where necessary restricting and/or closing affected roads,” Mr Wood said.
“Officers also worked quickly to identify and manage drainage problems and any potential road damage, including reports to VicRoads and Melbourne Water, where these issues are the responsibilites of those agencies.”
Properties in Tooradin and Pearcedale were also badly affected as well as suburbs in surrounding municipalities.
Koo Wee Rup in Cardinia Shire was one of the hardest hit, with many residents evacuated from their homes. In Greater Dandenong, roadways turned into waterways, including Heatherton Road, between Monash Freeway and Stud Road, which was flooded and closed after Dandenong Creek broke its banks early on Friday morning.
It was reopened by VicRoads on Sunday.