Were drains to blame for flash floods on the Sunshine Coast?

WERE poorly-maintained stormwater drains responsible for amplifying the impact of flash flooding that inundated central Coast homes and businesses in March this year?

That's the question residents want answered as they face the prospect of increased insurance premiums after the March 22 deluge that left hundreds of homes and businesses from Kawana to Mudjimba awash.

Commercial areas of Alexandra Headland, Cotton Tree and Buddina were badly impacted.

Immediately after the March 22 deluge which dumped more than 300mm of water on the central Coast in three hours, council workmen began clearing blocked drains feeding into the main Point Cartwright canal.

Resident of 32 years Laurie Jones said that the day after the downpour, council had removed tonnes of sand from the canal.

Work also has been carried out in recent weeks on stormwater drains throughout Buddina.

Mr Jones said contractors were checking drainage pipes with surveillance equipment.

He said he believed the flooding in March was worse than it should have been because of poor maintenance of the drainage system over many years.

"Stormwater pipes, drains and outlets leading into rivers, lakes, canals and the sea were either broken, blocked or partly blocked," he said.

A council spokesman said yesterday that any areas of concern as a result of the March flooding were investigated individually.

"Council is currently carrying out routine inspection of pipes and pumping out catch pits as part of its routine maintenance program," he said.

"The March flooding event involved a volume of rainfall consistent with a one-in-500 year event (Q500). The standard stormwater drainage infrastructure is designed to cope with a one-in-10-year rainfall event.

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