By Catherine Watson
THIRTEEN homes were evacuated in the Koo Wee Rup township and another 13 in Bayles as floodwaters rose throughout last night.
SES and CFA crews were alerted about 10pm that on that drains and canals around the towns were filling rapidly.
The worst hit areas of Koo Wee Rup were William Street, where at least five houses were flooded, and Boundary Drain Road.
Carol Connors and Steve Wilson watched anxiously through the night as floodwaters rose around their house in Boundary Drain Road.
By the time the water was lapping at their front door this morning, they had to call the SES to get them out.
Sheltering in the Koo Wee Rup SES headquarters, they faced an anxious wait until they could return to their house and see the damage.
Click on the image below for our gallery of the Koo Wee Rup floods.
Ms Connors said she had lived in the house for 27 years but had never experienced such flooding.
She said drainage had been a problem since an estate was built at the back of Boundary Drain Road.
Mr Wilson said that when he checked the drainage culvert near their house last night water was flooding out of the drain instead of into it.
In nearby William Street, Sam Arfi and Kevin Huxtable were also staggered by the flooding after a comparatively moderate overnight rainfall of 70 millimetres.
At least five houses in William Street were flooded, with residents evacuated to Pakenham.
CFA crews spent much of the night pumping water away from a Caldermeade house but at least one house in the town was flooded.
Floodwaters more than a metre high made the South Gippsland Highway impassable at Lang Lang. SES controllers closed the road about 7.30am and said they did not expect it to reopen for at least 12 hours.
Vehicles were briefly diverted through Caldermeade until the back roads also became impassable.
Drivers headed for South Gippsland and Phillip Island were later advised to travel via Warragul.
The SES responded to several incidents in the Cranbourne area early this morning. A house in Tongola Court, Cranbourne, was flooded when water leaked through the roof about 12.45am.
A Narre Warren crew was called to a house in Homewood Road, Cranbourne South, at 12.28am but flooding was diverted under the house.
Another crew cleared a fallen tree on Thompsons Road shortly before 6am.
