Now for the clean-up

By Bridget Cook
THE Greater Dandenong community faces a massive clean-up effort in the wake of the weekend’s flash flooding which caused havoc across the municipality.
The edge of Queensland’s Cyclone Yasi lashed Victoria with storms and torrential rains on Friday night, with caused Greater Dandenong streets to flood, road closures and evacuations.
The Springvale SES was one of the busiest units across the state, responding to about 360 flood-related calls from Friday night to Monday morning.
Springvale unit controller George Toskov said they helped a few people escaped from their cars, including one disabled man who became stranded.
“Most of the calls were for houses that had flooded, some people’s roofs were leaking after their ceilings collapsed and some trees came down due to water,” he said.
Mr Toskov said the flooding was the worst he had seen in the area.
“I’ve been with the unit for about 25 years, and haven’t seen flooding this bad in my history,” he said.
Mr Toskov said his crew did a fantastic job.
“Some of the guys worked through their normal day job, and were up early to help the community,” he said.
“We also had to get help from other units including Croydon and Doncaster.”
Many roads across the city suffered, with parts of Springvale, Hammond, Heatherton and Hallam roads closed at different stages as water levels rose to about one metre.
Thompsons Road, Bangholme, was opened yesterday but speed reduced to 40km/h between Frankston Freeway and Eastlink.
City of Greater Dandenong Engineering Services Director Bruce Rendall said the council had received a number of reports of damage in the area and was currently working through these.
“A number of council facilities were also affected,” he said.
“The council is continuing to clean up roads and parks affected by flooding.
“In addition, the council is assisting to pump water from the area surrounding Soden Road in Bangholme.”
The only roads still closed by the City of Greater Dandenong are Pillars Road, Soden Road and Chapel Road.
Mr Rendall said the council was required to set up a relief centre to assist residents affected by flooding at Willow Lodge in Bangholme on Saturday.
“The relief centre served as the initial assembly point until alternative accommodation was found for the small number of residents affected,” he said.
Any residents wanting to report damage should contact the council on 9239 5100.