Well, we can’t complain about too much rain this season, can we! Our little creek has contributed its share of the water pouring down the Campaspe towards the Murray, and causing flooding on the way. Fortunately we didn’t have any major problems locally, but we are all acutely aware of the difficulties many people are facing in other parts of Australia.

Rainfall recorded in Woodend was 202 mm from the 10th to the 14th of January which is thought to be a record for January. This is on top of the 5 months of record rainfall (from August to December); so the ground everywhere is saturated. There have also been many days of strong winds.

The consequences of this weather have been that large numbers of trees have fallen, causing problems for the Council and blocking paths, Five Mile Creek’s shared track between Shirley Park Weir and Romsey Rd has been washed away, leaving deep guttering (picture below). And also the sand track on the south side of the Creek between Wood and Pyke Sts has been damaged.

The worry is that Council’s budget will be overstretched. There are plenty of potholes to fix in addition to the tree removal and paths to repair. We can do our bit by clearing up
around our plantings—that’s why we are having 2 working bees in February!

Track along 5 Mile Creek damaged by floods