By Mikayla van Loon
With January’s unexpected rain, renewed calls from residents along Bristol Crescent and Valencia Road have been voiced, claiming nothing has been done to fix drainage problems.
Star Mail first spoke with residents in this part of Lilydale in March last year after they experienced severe flooding during the October 2022 torrential downpour.
While this month’s flooding was nowhere near as bad, fences will again need to be replaced, driveways fixed and safety inspections of house foundations will need to occur.
One resident Laura was cleaning out a drain at 2.30am to prevent too much damage but said the joining fence she shares with Gaurav would need to be replaced for the third time.
But for the most part, residents are just asking to be communicated with.
“Just let us know what their thoughts are or some communication from them just so we know they’re looking into it because workers come out sometimes and we ask them and you hear all different stories of what might be in the pipeline but we don’t hear anything officially and nothing seems to happen,” resident of nearly 40 years, Julie said.
“We’d just like someone to come and talk to us,” Laura said.
“But not just talk, to actually fix the issue. We want them to communicate and tell us what’s happening and actually fix the issue because we can’t just keep spending money over and over again,” Gaurav said.
After October 2022 Gaurav had to spend in excess of $20,000 to repair his backyard after the easement drainage burst, causing a river-like flow of water.
Neighbours Tyrone and Luke cop water flow from Hereford Road which has caused major damage multiple times to the gravel crossovers before their concrete driveways begin.
“We’ve just got continual repairs out of our own pockets. So it’s like $100 to $200 here and there just refilling [the gravel] over and over,” Tyrone said.
Now looking at a permanent solution of concreting the crossover, it will cost anywhere from $5000 to $20,000.
“The council can’t really plan for these [events] but now that they’re a problem they might as well make some changes because everyone’s putting in all this money for no reason and they’re going to do it again and again,” Tyrone said.
Sonya, who lives on Bristol Crescent, said for her to keep claiming on her insurance will mean she will be uninsurable and yet, her stumps may need to be replaced, a cost that could be avoided if the drainage was upgraded.
“It’s damaging my house that badly, my rear corner has dropped and there’s cracks in the house. My stumps are exposed that bad, it’s shocking,” she said.
Instead Yarra Ranges Council has placed a small asphalted speed bump at the top of her sloped driveway and dug out part of the nature strip to attempt to redirect the water flow.
“They’ve said you live on a slope, it’s your problem not ours. And they’ve already claimed responsibility because they’ve put a speed hump here to reduce the water going down my driveway,” Sonya said.
A Yarra Ranges Council spokesperson said council officers have attended Bristol Crescent and surrounding roads to inspect the drainage system.
“Officers… have inspected the pits with cameras to check for blockages. No blockages were found,” they said.
“Council also completed asphalt berm works and table drain clearing works on Bristol Crescent to minimise run off into properties.
“Council has identified further drainage works in this location and this will be considered as part of the Stormwater Management Plan and capital budgets, which aims to prioritise areas needing attention for future-proofing, identifies impacted properties and drives investment decisions.”
Julie said while water pools over the road because the pipes were not big enough, it was an underground issue, particularly at her and husband’s property.
Although they experienced some flooding instances in the 40-odd years living on Bristol Crescent, Julie said the issue was only increasing.
“It’s getting worse. With climate change and the torrential downpours it’s getting worse of late,” she said.
With the force of the water people have experienced in their backyards and along the road, Gaurav said something has to happen before people get hurt.
“It is a safety issue. We need to do something about it because someone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to get seriously injured and you don’t want that to happen,” he said.
“We don’t want anyone to get hurt, it should be fixed, that’s why we pay our rates.”
Only in the early stages, Sonya is leading a petition to the council to fix the ongoing issues.
“The petition is for the shire to own the responsibility of maintaining and keeping up with the road and the drains to stop everyone’s backyard from suffering basically.”
