By Renee Wood
The community was relieved to hear on Tuesday 8 November the Melba Highway between Yarra Glen and Yering reopened after almost two weeks of closure due to flooding.
Residents and businesses say during this time, they felt isolated and disadvantaged by the large detour around the town through to Healesville to connect with Lilydale and beyond.
Resident Danni Daniels and her husband drive the Melba Highway twice a day and said the closure was really hard on the local community.
“It actually has cost our family so much financially, but we’re not eligible for any support from the government because we’re not on the list of people affected by the flood even though technically we all are,” Ms Daniels said.
The time consuming detour changed a 10 minute drive to Lilydale into a trip that could be between 40 to 80 minutes.
Ms Daniels said she paid over $200 twice a week on fuel and the lack of communication was difficult, not knowing how long the closure would be in place.
“It’s mostly been hard because there’s been absolutely no communication… Nobody has been aware and have basically just been reading hearsay on Facebook posts.”
Ms Daniels would like to see the Department of Transport review the road to see what upgrades could be done to ensure future flooding won’t close the highway for that amount of time again.
“We need a long term resolution. At the moment they quick fix it – open, close, open close continuously for all different various reasons but mostly flooding and I just think we need another solution that doesn’t take an extra half an hour to get into town.”
Businesses were also hit hard and agree a lack of communication was one of the hardest parts.
“I think the hardest part was your misinformation – there was just no information, there was rumours getting around about what was happening,” Viande owner Matt Fraser said.
Mr Fraser had to close for one day and cancel some deliveries due to the road closure.
“It was really hard because our sales were down probably at least 30 to 40 per cent – we even had to shut Sunday because Saturday the foot traffic was really bad.”
Yarra Glen Bake House workers said it was really quiet and the business had to shut earlier and cut staff hours.
“A lot of our business is tradesmen in the morning but because they were either having to leave early or go over the Christmas Hills, hey just weren’t coming in,” employee Chelsea said.
Chelsea would like to see in future a traffic light system that can still allow one lane of traffic to go through if its clear of water.
“They should have just managed people through it… I would have much preferred to sit behind a llght for 5 to 10 minutes waiting because one lane was clear for a lot of the time.”
Peter from Yarra Valley Antique Centre said the closure certainly had an impact on revenue and agreed the lack of information had an impact.
“It seemed to be in the last part of it a lack of information.. but I just don’t think you can do anything about it, it’s Mother Nature she provided and it happened,” Peter said.
The landscape through the area is low-lying and can flood during peak weather events, with the Department of Transport monitoring the Melba Highway to ensure safe travel.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said above average rainfall caused hundreds of roads to flood.
“Our crews have been working hard to clear and repair flood-affected roads and get them reopened as quickly as possible, however we will never compromise on safety and that is why we can’t open roads and until they are inspected and deemed safe,” they said.
