Emergency calls flood in following deluge

By Lilly O’Gorman
PADDOCKS and roads were inundated across Cardinia Shire on Friday and Saturday, as rain and wind lashed the region.
Pakenham Police said the SES evacuated one family from their farming property on Kooweerup-Longwarry Road in Modella about 2.30am on Saturday.
“Given the amount of water that was pretty good,” Senior Sergeant Trevor Vondrasek said.
Matt Spiteri from Pakenham SES said the SES came across the family of five while assessing roads in Modella.
He said they were trapped inside their farm house with water levels around the property above one metre.
“The SES members were able to safely evacuate the family and relocate them to emergency accommodation through contacts within the Red Cross,” Mr Spiteri said.
Pakenham SES received more than 20 calls on Friday due to the weather conditions.
“What started out to be a quiet night soon turned into a very busy one, continuing on through to Saturday afternoon,” Mr Spiteri said.
“Calls varied from fallen trees, floods, building damage, and vehicles trapped in flood water.
“The first job of the night was removing a tree off a vehicle that had collided with it on A’Beckett Road, Bunyip.”
Sen Sgt Vondrasek said that on Saturday afternoon, Bunyip Police rescued occupants of a car which had become stranded in floodwaters on the South Gippsland Highway.
“Fortunately no one was injured,” he said.
About 2.30pm south-bound traffic on the South Gippsland Highway near Caldermeade Road at Lang Lang was blocked due to flood waters.
Bunyip Police and Cardinia Highway Patrol attended the area and VicRoads put signage to direct traffic in place.
Pakenham SES and Pakenham Police urged all drivers and families to keep clear of flood waters.
“It is quite clear we’ll have further flooding over the coming months and we’d urge people not to enter flood waters,” Sen Sgt Vondrasek said.