By Mikayla Van Loon
Experiencing some of the region’s worst flooding in the space of half an hour in October last year, Lilydale residents were left inundated around the Gateway Estate.
Frustrated by the inaction of Yarra Ranges Council and Melbourne Water, residents have consolidated their calls for better infrastructure by submitting a letter of complaint signed by 130 people.
The letter requests “drainage infrastructure, stormwater, sewage and roads initiatives to prevent, mitigate and reduce the impact of future flooding to the current inadequate drainage, sewage, roads and associated infrastructure supplied and maintained by Yarra Ranges Council and Melbourne Water”.
While last year’s flooding was the catalyst for this newest urging of the two entities to take action, stories of similar complaints being lodged date back at least 19 years.
The daughter of a 90-year-old Nimblefoot Way resident, Julie, said when her parents first moved into the property 20 years ago, it didn’t take long for instances of flooding to occur.
“Dad raised the issue when it first started and it’s been going on now for 19 years because dad went up to the council straightaway and complained,” she said.
“He was always going into panic that he had to sell the house because they were scared.”
Similarly, Delta Close residents Lyette, Deb and Brendan have been issuing complaints about an ill cared for storm water drain located behind their properties for nearly two decades.
“The way I feel mostly on how everything’s gone down is angry, disappointed in the responses we’ve got to our concerns over the years,” Lyette said.
“The lack of respect as in, we are ratepayers, we are concerned for our property and our family’s lives and our pets but that seems to be shoved aside.
“So we’re very frustrated and for us to have to ring for 18 years, we’ve been ringing, neighbours have been ringing and complaining and they seem to fob us off.”
The green wedge property is privately owned with the major storm water drain that collects the estate’s overflow running along the boundary of the Delta Close houses.
Overgrown with Phragmite reeds as high as the fence, the drain cannot be seen, let alone accessed to clear.
“These reeds are everywhere around Lilydale blocking up the watercourses and what they do is they block it up which forces the water out which causes erosion so silt builds up, so it can’t get away,” Brendan said.
“There’s a drain out here when this corner floods [Delta and Nimblefoot] where the drain is higher than the pipe, the water can’t run uphill.”
The October 2022 flood, Lyette said, was “the worst in the 24 years that we’ve been living here” with water filling up their pipes and spreading into the garage.
Deb said the condition of the drain means the water has nowhere to go and “there’s not enough capacity to have both, the reeds have got to be removed”.
Not only are they concerned about potential flooding but Brendan said if the bushfire season is as bad as predicted and should those reeds and dry grass catch fire, it would be disastrous for the houses in the Gateway Estate.
“The CFA said if a fire gets in there, they’re not going in there. They said there’s no way they’re sending their men in because they can’t see what they are doing,” Brendan said.
“The only way you can put that fire out is by helicopter and bombing it. If you get a massive wind coming this way all these homes are gone.”
Lyette said the increase in snakes and rats since the reeds began growing out of control was disturbing.
“Since 2005 we’ve had a rat infestation. Every neighbour along here has had snakes. We’ve had a Copperhead in our backyard,” she said.
“Others on either side of us have had more than one instance where they’ve had black snakes.”
Over on Cave Hill Road, resident of three years Violet said because of inappropriate drainage pipes, stagnant water brings an incredible amount of mosquitos, so much so her family home’s sliding glass doors were black from being covered by the insects.
After buying the property in 2021, Violet discovered that her property’s storm water pipe led nowhere, ending at the bottom of her backyard.
“We’ve got five neighbouring properties and all their water comes into ours and then just runs to nothing, there’s no connection,” she said.
“The main for the property is down on Morokai (Grove). I have to go through people’s houses, but with the flow of the land I will have to go under their houses. That’s impossible and costly.”
With all of that water flowing down to Morokai Grove and nowhere to go from there, residents like Jodie, who has lived in the area for 20 years, were impacted by rising flood water.
“It was going through my house and into my backyard. I felt like I was sitting in a fishbowl,” Jodie said.
“The water was up to the first rail of my fence.The flood of water was all coming in through the reserve.”
Bordering a spoon drain, Jodie said “they never clean it out” and the water funnelled underneath her fence last October.
“It hit hard but the thing is, it didn’t really hit hard because there’s inadequate drainage here and the drains aren’t big enough,” she said.
“They’re probably blocked. They don’t maintain them and [the council] don’t clean drains unless requested.”
It took over six months for Jodie and her seven children to move back into their home while repairs were being done.
With twins who are eight months old, Violet said as they grow up, she’s worried about their safety in their own backyard.
“Our kids can’t use their backyard. My eight month olds, when they start crawling and walking in the backyard, there’s a pool of water it creates, it’s so dangerous,” she said.
“I was pregnant with the twins and I fell down and slipped quite badly in the backyard because of the surface water when I just went to go to the lemon tree. I had to go to the hospital and get checked out.”
Worrying for family isn’t contained to just the ones who live in the estate, as Julie often drives over in the middle of the night to check on her mum when there is a large downpour of rain.
“If we’re not around, that’s even worse for mum because she stresses a little bit when we’re not there. If the rain comes, she’s there by herself,” Julie said.
“If you had to get her out quickly, we couldn’t. If something happened to her when all this was going on, would emergency services just be able to drive through and get in, and that’s all those snowball effects.”
After 19 years of filing complaints, Julie said it’s time the council and Melbourne Water acted.
“Something has to be done, it can’t just keep going forever. They’ve got to address it. They can’t put blinkers on anymore because there’s so many people now and new people have moved into the area.”
Violet and Jodie both said that as Lilydale grows and expands, with more houses being built in the Kinley estate, the anxiety around how this will impact the flow of excess water is also growing.
“Building that development is all good and well but now that problem has just shoved further down the road to become someone else’s problem,” Violet said.
“That’s the problem with this major infrastructure being developed. They haven’t consulted appropriately with people who are impacted and they haven’t considered that that drainage stops at a certain point and you need to make sure it flows further down.
“They need to fix people’s current problems and that is to connect their stormwater to mains and then upgrade those mains to allow for the capacity and then you can look at upgrading or extending or developing.”
Creating a collective voice via the Lilydale Flood Watch group, a spokesperson addressed the council at the Tuesday 12 December meeting when the letter of complaint was aired.
The spokesperson said not only was the intended growth of Lilydale a concern for residents but if the suburb continues to flood, it is an ongoing risk to the people responding.
“You’re actually loading and impacting Emergency Management Services, SES, Ambulance, Victoria Police, CFA and all the services and charities that remain after an inundation.
“Those [emergency service] staff you’re putting at risk the more houses you build, the more developments you approve. You are adding load to man made problems you’ve created.”
A spokesperson from Yarra Ranges Council said a Stormwater Management Plan is in the process of being designed to understand the future need of the shire’s drainage systems.
“The drainage network is designed for minor and major events and includes pits, pipes, surface channels, open drains, detention and retention systems,” they said.
“However, during very heavy rainfall, which we have experienced a number across the state of Victoria in recent years, a new set of challenges is now being presented to the authorities that manage this drainage network.
“Council is currently undertaking drainage inspections and reviewing the maintenance program in this location.”
With the increase in insurance costs and potentially the need to move out for months at a time for repairs, the Lilydale Flood Watch group said it is an expensive exercise to live in this part of Lilydale.
“Our human rights have been compromised because of your inaction. Families are having to move out of home, these are our lives, these are our homes.”
Acknowledging the lodgement of the petition, Melbourne Water’s water resources and Upper Yarra, waterways and catchment services south east manager Ross Bleazby said they would engage in conversation with the council.
“Melbourne Water is involved in a variety of projects across Melbourne, and the Yarra Ranges region, to ensure we continue to maintain our drains and deliver the right drainage infrastructure in accordance with our flood management strategy,” he said.
“Key to this is ongoing and frequent contact with local councils, and other relevant stakeholders – as well as contact with people across the local community itself – to ensure we are aware of the ongoing needs and are aligned in their delivery.
“We have meaningful conversations with the Yarra Ranges Council and are committed to ensuring this connection is ongoing.”
