By Xavier Smerdon
WYNDHAM was battered over the weekend when more than 100 millimetres of rain fell in just one night.
Unit Controller of the Wyndham SES, Laurie Russell, said they were inundated by more than 350 calls of distress.
“We’ve been working around the clock. Some of us haven’t slept,” Mr Russell said.
“We’ll keep going for as long as we have to.”
Mr Russell said the sudden downpour of rain on Friday night and Saturday morning had a significant effect throughout Wyndham.
“We’ve had 23 major roads closed,” he said.
“We’ve also had an odd phenomenon where the inside of people’s roofs have been caving in.”
Schools, medical centres, shopping centres including the Werribee Plaza, factories and football ovals were among those damaged by the wild weather.
A total of 118 mm of rain was recorded at Laverton where factories had their roofs ripped off when a small tornado travelled through the area and roads were closed across the municipality because of flooding.
The new Wyndham Park Primary School, which had only been open for one day, is now closed due to flooding.
The school’s principal, Daniel Vella said it was unknown when the school would reopen.
“I couldn’t say for sure, we’re just hoping to get things up and running again as soon as possible,” Mr Vella said.
“Naturally it’s disappointing when you put so much effort into getting things organised, you don’t need major hiccups like this.”
The usually placid Lollypop Creek became Lollypop River when it burst its banks.
Luisa Dimase from Manor Lakes said the creek is usually a small trickle compared to its raging state on Saturday.
“It’s just amazing. I’ve never seen it like this,” she said.
“Really this is nothing compared to what those poor people are dealing with in Queensland.”
Mr Russell said the SES was involved in three rescues of people in their cars being swept away by flood waters.
“It would seem on some occasions that the people have driven around the road blocks that we put in place,” he said.
“It just defies logic because the road blocks are there for a reason.
“It puts my team in danger and it takes resources away from helping the general public.”
Mr Russell said the majority of residents where extremely understanding.
“We got heaps of calls in one hit, but one of the things that we noticed was that the public was very cooperative. Whether that’s because they’ve seen what’s happening in Queensland, I don’t know,” he said.
