“I’ve been having trouble sleeping, I’m super stressed,” Berge said. “I’m still in a state of shock.”
At a public council meeting last month, six residents asked questions about the risk of flooding in the area.
Flooding in residential streets of Moonee Ponds in January 2025.
Moonee Valley City Council chief executive Helen Sui said the council regularly monitored and maintained its stormwater network, and she was not aware of any specific damage to pipes in the area.
She said drains were last cleaned in late February.
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“In 2022, council engaged with the community regarding the potential upgrade of the existing drainage network in Stuart Street,” Sui said. “These works are currently at the design stage.”
Several residents have voiced concerns over the Moonee Valley Racecourse’s ambition to build 2000 new homes, including an 11-storey apartment building that is under construction.
The racecourse’s master plan outlined a proposal to harvest stormwater from neighbouring residential areas onto the infield.
Sui said: “All new developments must be designed to ensure there are no detrimental impacts to the existing drainage network downstream.”
Stormwater Victoria president Alice Lisitsa said stormwater drains across Melbourne may be unable to manage current and future flood risks.
“The concern is that much of Melbourne’s stormwater infrastructure – particularly in older, established municipalities where networks are approaching 100 years of age – was not designed to accommodate these increased volumes,” she said.
She said that with the push to build higher density housing in Melbourne to accommodate a growing population, more focus was needed on impacts beneath the surface.
“In highly urbanised areas, underground drainage systems are already operating at or near capacity. Infill development necessitates additional hard surfaces – roofs, paved areas, sealed roads – which leads to greater [water] volumes and faster and higher peak runoff.”
Melbourne Water is in the process of updating flood maps for municipalities across the city in partnership with councils. Some are expected to be released later this year.
“Once completed the modelling will inform development planning assessments to ensure drainage outcomes are appropriately managed,” a Melbourne Water spokesman said.
Moonee Ponds resident Samantha Freestone, who lives on Kipling Street, called for the stormwater system to be pre-emptively addressed as she was worried the area would be designated a flood zone, which would impact insurance costs and property values.
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Sui said the new maps would inform the council’s prioritising of drainage upgrade works.
“Should any potential changes to planning overlays be required as a result of this modelling, those changes will follow extensive consultation with the local community.”
A spokesman for Water Minister Gayle Tierney said the new flood models would address the impacts of rising infill development on drainage.
Berge said while some homeowners faced the threat of flooding like her, others had experienced cracking, mould and mosquitoes from wet soil which they blame on leaking water pipes.
Josie, who asked not to use her surname, said she had lived on Vine Street for 43 years and was now “beyond fed up” with fracturing pipes.
Greater Western Water manages the area’s household water supply and sewer pipes.
The company’s general manager of growth and infrastructure, Ian Burton, said no burst pipes were responded to in Stuart, Kipling, Vine, Pattison and Steele streets in Moonee Ponds this year so far.
In late 2024, Greater Western Water did a major upgrade of a 140-year-old water main on Pascoe Vale Road and surrounding streets in Moonee Ponds.
Burton said the project increased the capacity to provide drinking water to customers in Moonee Ponds amid growing population and water needs.
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