Flooding street drains residents

By Sarah Schwager
WHEN Ron and Betty Ameer bought a block of land at Blue Horizons Estate in Pakenham last year they were not expecting water frontage.
But the ankledeep overflowing drainage that lines their street is not exactly picturesque.
Mr and Mrs Ameer said the road out the front of their home at the new estate continually flooded, whether it rained or not.
“When it rains the whole road floods and debris comes out of the drains,” Mr Ameer said.
“It gets to a foot deep outside our house.
“It’s like our own river out front.”
Melbourne Water spokesman Ben Pratt said flood relief will soon be coming on stream.
He said a twokilometre pipeline around the Henry Road area to receive water from the local drainage system was only a couple of weeks away from completion.
Mr Pratt said the current drains in place at the estate were only temporary.
“During heavy rainfalls the drains have not been able to cope with the volume of water,” he said.
“That has led to some flooding in the lower section of the street.”
Mr and Mrs Ameer bought the block of land more than a year ago and started building in February last year.
They moved into the house at the end of June.
They say the flooding has been a problem ever since.
But Mrs Ameer said the strangest part of it was that it flooded even when it had not been raining.
“That’s what I don’t understand,” she said.
“How can it do it when hasn’t rained?”
Mr Ameer said the problem was getting worse and they were fed up.
“Sooner or later there’s going to be an accident out there,” he said.
“When it’s dark someone might not see the water.
“I mean, who would expect it if hasn’t rained for days?
“It’s a beautiful day outside yet there’s water gushing by.”
Mr Ameer said a number of other residents on their street had complained about the problem.
The couple said it was only their block, on Blue Hills Boulevard from Teal to Iris Places, that was flooded, which they could not understand.
“Apparently the water is circulating around because it can’t get away,” Mr Ameer said.
“But why isn’t it happening in the other streets?”
They say the flooding is worse on their side of the street but on the opposite side of the street, water is visible seeping through cracks in the concrete and the grass and the gutter has rusted brown.
“The kids say we live at Lakeside,” Mrs Ameer said.
“If we knew it would be like this we never would have bought the land.
“We shouldn’t have to live like this. We always have to ring people and say ‘don’t come over because we’ve had a shower’ or something.”
Cardinia Shire engineer Ken White said the council had been in contact with the residents on Blue Hills Boulevard and had tried to assist in any way possible.
He said the reason the drains were flooding was because the land was so flat.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with Melbourne Water at the senior management level to progress the situation as quickly as possible,” Mr White said.
Mr Pratt said the company had been working with the developer of the Blue Horizons Estate to build the $2.5 million of main drainage infrastructure as quickly as possible.
“We understand how inconvenient and frustrating it must be to the residents but we are almost there,” he said.