Moreland Council investigating Brunswick flood after near-drowning

A Melbourne council has launched an investigation into how a man almost drowned when he fell into a flooded Brunswick drain on Melbourne Cup Day.

Christian Astourian says Moreland Council needs to act to stop flooding in Brunswick. Picture: George Salpigtidis

MORELAND Council has launched an investigation into the cause of constant flooding in a Brunswick street after an elderly man almost drowned when he fell into a drain.

Resident Tony Weir said the Otto apartment building on Michael St had suffered dangerous floods seven times and at least eight other minor floods in the past five years.

It comes as a drain covering which floated away in a Melbourne Cup Day flood resulted in a man in his 70s falling into the drain.

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The council’s director of city infrastructure Grant Thorne said the council would clamp drain covers within the next week and an investigation was underway into the cause of the flooding.

Cars and storage in the basement of the Otto apartment building were extensively damaged.

But residents said the council had taken too long to act.

Works were undertaken by the council in September last year to mitigate the issues, however flooding returned just months later in December.

“The flooding that has occurred during heavy rain periods, is a complex matter,” Mr Thorne said.

“Council is also currently working through plans to install additional drainage in this area of Michael St, to increase capacity for water run-off and mitigate some of the drainage issues.”

Flooding on the street on Melbourne Cup Day.

Mr Weir, who is a member of the building’s body corporate, said the man who fell in the drain’s head went under the water and he had to be pulled out.

He said local businesses suffered extensive damage as well as cars and storage in the basement.

“A man almost died here,” he said.

“We’ve been warning council about the safety risk from the flooding, especially the floating storm water pit lids and really dangerous basement flooding for more three years but (the council) kept ignoring multiple emails and phone calls and didn’t even bother to lock the lids down.”

Christian Astourian, who requires a mobility scooter to get around, said he felt like he “was under house arrest” when he was trapped in his second floor apartment because of inactive lifts in the building last week.

Christian Astourian felt trapped in his apartment by recent flooding. Picture: George Salpigtidis

He said the council had not done enough to fix the problem despite lobbying from residents over the past five years.

Mr Astourian said he was lucky he had enough food to last four days, he wouldn’t have been able to last much longer.

“Michael and (nearby) Saxon streets both have issues with water draining, it doesn’t go down quickly enough,” he said.

“It’s a disappointment that the council hasn’t considered this to be an urgent matter.”

The residents and the council are planning to meet at the site within the next two weeks.

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