Businesses in the main street of Welshpool and nearby homes were inundated by flood waters on boxing day.
In an event that hasn’t been seen since the early 1900’s, a deluge of rain on the morning after Christmas rapidly turned the main street on the South Gippsland Highway into a river.
Welshpool Supermarket, Shell Service Station, Welshpool Hotel and Motel, Welshpool Outdoors and the Post Office were some of the hardest hit businesses on the street.
Narelle Lagercren, owner of Welshpool Supermarket was at her Welshpool home when the flooding occurred, with very little warning.
“I was at home and it was really, really heavy rain. I went outside just to have a look at the rain and I could see that there was water going over roads everywhere, but it wasn't really that bad.”
Narelle went inside for fifteen to twenty minutes before going back out and realising how quickly the water was rising.
“I went outside and there was water running through our property.”
Their shed became flooded, damaging music equipment and a few other items.
The supermarket floor was also flooded and damaged, but fortunately not much stock was lost, due to being higher on the shelves.
Emergency Services responded and attended the event quite quickly, according to Narelle.
“The SES were great. So were the local fire brigades. The police were fantastic as well, they were here all day directing traffic.”
The Supermarket was able to open for trading yesterday, but the floors are not yet dry, and the clean-up continues.
“Other businesses in town have (lost a lot of stock). I was actually quite lucky that not much water went through at all,” Narelle said.
