BUSINESSES, roads and buildings were affected in the City of Whittlesea during last week’s rain event, which saw significant flooding across Melbourne and central Victoria.
As of Friday afternoon, 10 roads across the City of Whittlesea were closed including, Beveridge Road, Donnybrook Road, and Arthurs Creek Road, while Wallan Road, Grants Road and Epping Road had all reopened.
City of Whittlesea crews worked throughout Thursday and Friday to unblock drains and assist residents, however the full extent of the damage cannot be determined until majority of the water has drained away.
Whittlesea SES responded to more than 70 calls late last week, with four crews working from midday Thursday through to Friday to help residents and mitigate risks.
Whittlesea SES controller Gary Doorbar said last week’s efforts were a collaboration between a number of groups in the City of Whittlesea.
“It was a good effort between the City of Whittlesea, the SES and Victoria Police to close roads and help keep people safe,” he said.
“I’ve seen this sort of thing before but not like this, this time it happened really quickly. It was just a few hours and roads were underwater.”
Mr Doorbar said there were still some people who tried driving through floodwaters but got stuck and needed rescuing, as well as residents in South Morang whose houses flooded but refused SES rescue and remained inside.
“The community helped to get sandbags out and delivered to people who needed them, so that was good to see too,” he said.
Whittlesea SES was also one of the many Victorian SES crews asked to send rescue boats to help with the flooded Maribyrnong River in Melbourne on Friday.
City of Whittlesea Craig Lloyd said that during last week’s severe weather event, Council staff worked closely with local emergency services, including Victoria Police and the SES, to respond to the changing situation and keep the community safe.
“During the peak of the weather event on Thursday night and Friday morning, 16 roads in the municipality required closing due to flooding,” he said.
“We are still assessing the full impacts of the floods on local roads but most have now been reopened.
“Council has also offered its support to municipalities to the north, including Murrindindi and Mitchell for their clean-up efforts.”
