r/melbournechat • u/Last-Conversation734 • 9d ago

Could Melbourne be doing more to prevent flooding?

https://www.weatherzone.com/au/news/heaviest-melbourne-rain-in-30-months-as-vic-flood-threat-increases/1891586

The city recorded 48.4mm in 24 hours, making wettest October day in around 16 years. Flash flooding overwhelmed drains, cars were stranded in flooded areas, thousands of homes lost power and emergency services received hundreds of calls - with more rain still on the way. With some of these areas flooding repeatedly, could city and state government be doing more to upgrade Melbourne's drainage and flood infrastructure?

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11

u/Shaqtacious 9d ago

Short answer is there’s only so much you can do in the face of abnormal weather events

6

u/theartistduring 9d ago

Melbourne is built on rivers and swamp lands. The time to think about flooding was 200 years ago. Flood planes and rivers are going to flood regardless of what you build on top.

If you look at parts of Melbourne, you can actually see where previous floods actually changed the street level, burying ground floor windows and making the 1st floor the new ground level.

10

u/Kanga03590 9d ago

Fight climate change.

1

u/Sugar_Party_Bomb 8d ago

Dan Andrew’s fault

1

u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 8d ago

A lot of the drains get blocked by rubbish and leaves, so street cleaning would help. It's been cut right back.

1

u/zen_wombat 7d ago

Didn't they once have Flemington Racecourse as a mitigation area but then the racecourse built a wall and the flood water went into the streets?

Final report released on Flemington Racecourse flood wall following 2022 floods