WITH water gushing across Traralgon’s Tennyson Street, resident Adrian ‘Richard’ Green was left feeling “extremely frightened”, stranded at his home.
After receiving an emergency call late on Monday night, Mr Green and his wife quickly tried to evacuate their property, but were unable to drive past a flooded Whittaker’s Road.
“We packed our dogs into the car but we just couldn’t go; there was just too much water,” Mr Green said.
“We couldn’t drive out of the area into safety; I’ve never seen it like that before.”
Mr Green said he felt “cut off” and feared for his family’s safety, adding the call he received from emergency response operators was “too late”.
“I’m lucky I heard the phone ring and woke up,” he said.
“The way they informed us was just wrong; there were no door knocks, no one came to tell us.
“I just found it quite disgusting.”
After receiving the evacuation call, Mr Green walked outside his property to find other residents planning their route of escape.
With water flooding the back of their property and more water seeping through the front, the Greens took refuge at a neighbour’s residence for a few hours, before going back to their property.
The Tennyson Street resident added despite the calm after the storm, he feared flooding issues would only “worsen” as a result of dead trees and branches blocking the flow of water along the Traralgon creek.
Mr Green who has previously urged Latrobe City Council and West Gippsland Catchment Authority of the issue said there were about 22 dead tree stumps and branches currently clogging the creek.
WGCMA has previously undertaken some cleaning works along the creek, but The Express was unable to get any further comments from WGCA in time of publication.
