COUNCIL staff, firefighters and residents have pumped thousands of litres of water off Kerang properties this week in the wake of the wettest October day on record.
Sunday’s 66.6 mm downpour left streets flooded and sewers blocked and pumping to alleviate the problems continued until late yesterday.
Residents were still reporting water under houses yesterday.
Borough engineer, Mr Colin Campbell said that the last major pumping operation on Wednesday involved removing water from the Tate drive industrial estate and adjoining residential area.
Half of the Airport road carriageway was closed to traffic at Boundary street to enable water to be pumped across the road to enter the stormwater drainage system.
Firefighters helped council staff late on Sunday night and early Monday morning and were busy again on Monday and Tuesday.
Mr Brian Moore’s entire house block at the corner of Victoria and Ninth streets was inundated and firefighters took four hours to clear the water.
Mr Campbell said that some flooding and sewerage overflows were aggravated by downpipes illegally entering sewerage vents and some manhole lids not being fitted tightly.
“It wasn’t the amount of rain we had that caused the trouble, it was the intensity”, he said.
Mr Campbell said council had allocated nearly $50,000 this financial year for drainage maintenance, an increase of $20,000.
He said that council was investigating a number of options to assist drainage, including using the former railway dam as a retarded basin and more pumps.
Sunday’s deluge has cost Cohuna Shire Council between $30,000 and $50,000 damage to road assets, according to shire engineer, Mr George Payne.
Mr Payne said it was worse devastation he had ever seen in the shire caused by rain associated flooding.
He said the torrential rain created a lot of problems for the shire’s road systems, with sections of at least 14 roads totally submerged.
Mr Payne said immediate short-term damage involved scoured and pot-holed gravel road surfaces.
He said rain saturated pavements and sealed roads could lose their firm base and start breaking up, resulting in long term damage.
Some minor property damage was also incurred.
Shire staff and Leitchville Fire Brigade members helped sandbag a home in Leitchville on Sunday night.
Mr Payne said the town’s drainage water had flooded along the drain system and had inundated the premises.
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