Noble Park residents, back from left, Vince Ferracane, Hayrabet, Ian McNab, Helen Sliwinski, Henry Houben, Lucy Ferracane and Geoff Lawson with (front) Kingsley Simmons say a $200,000 flood study is welcome but long overdue as flash flooding has happened for more than 30 years in Noble Park’s streets.By Shaun Inguanzo
NOBLE Park residents who have battled 30 years of flash flooding say a $200,000 study to help prevent the phenomenon is long overdue.
The Federal Government’s Natural Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) have combined forces to fund what is the most comprehensive flood study ever undertaken in Greater Dandenong.
The City of Greater Dandenong council is helping to collect data that will identify the most flood prone parts of Noble Park, Springvale and Dandenong.
This information will then provide a focus for drainage upgrades that some residents say has been needed for more than 30 years.
Harold Road resident Kingsley Simmons, who has lived in the strip for 34 years, said the study was at least ‘25-years too late’.
“We have been trying to get this done for the past 25 years and nothing has been done,” he said. “When it rains the whole town gets flooded.”
Diggins Court resident Bernie Howard said he had almost given up after fruitless years spent lobbying water authorities to fix the area’s drainage and prevent flooding.
“(The study) is chicken feed, it should have been done ages ago,” he said.
Harold Road resident Peter Roberts said Noble Park had flash-flooded during every heavy downfall over his 36-years of residency.
Mr Roberts said heavy rainfalls cascaded down Corrigan Road and pooled along his street, creating ‘ankle-deep’ floods.
“Within five minutes the street floods,” he said. “It last happened this April when we had a solid downpour; within five minutes of it starting we were bailing things out of the water.”
City of Greater Dandenong engineering services director Tim Tamlin confirmed the study was under way. He said 18 months of hi-tech topographical mapping had already provided the most comprehensive maps and elevations of Greater Dandenong.
“It is the biggest study we have done,” Mr Tamlin said. “We had an aircraft with a laser on board fly all over the city to map the contours of the ground accurately to within 100 millimetres.”
Mr Tamlin said the Federal Government and Department of Justice had interests in the study regarding natural disaster management.
“They are interested in this because of emergency management during flooding,” he said.
The project is expected to take three years in total, with an update on progress due before council either late this year or early 2007, Mr Tamlin said.
