Jack Crawford demonstrating where the gutter has lifted up to ankle height.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Jack Crawford’s home is situated in the heart of Moama, only a stone’s throw from all the necessities and a short drive away for anything else.
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The Echuca St residence is seemingly prime real estate — except when it rains.
Over the past three years, Mr Crawford has been on a mission to fix the lack of drainage in the residential half of the street.
Due to a scarcity of drains in the street, rain water overflows on to residences’ driveways, making it difficult to leave home without being ankle deep in water.
Mr Crawford said he had repeatedly reported the issue to Murray River Council, but nothing had been done.
“It’s been going on for years and years and bloody years,” he said.
“I would just like something to be done because we have people that come and visit and they’ll get out of the car and all of a sudden, they’ve got water up to their ankles.
“When it rains, it’s always flooded and they always say they’re gonna, gonna, gonna but they never do, do, do.”
According to Mr Crawford, when it rains or someone waters their lawn, the water floods his driveway.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
From the top of Echuca St to the Martin St intersection about two blocks down, the 600m stretch of road has only two drains.
However, in the industrial end of Echuca St beyond the Martin St intersection, up to the start of Nicholas Dve, there are 14 drains spread over 500m of road.
For those living on Mr Crawford’s side of the street, opposite the Moama post office, the slope of the road makes it more likely for water to pool in front of people’s homes.
Even long after the rain is gone, the water remains and eventually seeps underneath the roads, causing the roads to crack and lift, creating a safety hazard for residents who walk along the roads.
Water remains in the gutters long after the rain leaves.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Mr Crawford said sometimes it only took his neighbours watering the grass for 10 minutes for his driveway to be inundated with water.
“We’ve had people water their front lawn and I’ve come out at night time and our whole driveway is flooded,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to people who know a bit about road maintenance and engineers and they said, ‘See all this here, Jack? That’s water that’s getting underneath the road.’
“This is one of the major roads, you can see there’s cars all the time driving up and down, we have semi trailers and B-doubles and the whole bloody lot.”
Water quickly inundates Mr Crawford’s driveway every time it rains. Photo: Supplied.
Just over 12 months ago, works were carried out on the post office side of Echuca St to fix damage but no other works have been completed since.
According to a Murray River Council spokesperson, works on Echuca St were on the table but still in the early stages.
“Council is continuing to progress plans for the Echuca St works, with completion proposed for the next financial year,” the spokesperson said.
“If sufficient funds remain in the kerb and gutter renewal program, the works will proceed as planned. Otherwise, council will seek additional funding or prioritise the project for the 2026-27 financial year.
“We appreciate the community’s patience as we work through these necessary steps.”
The spokesperson said at this stage, further investigation was needed, including survey and design work, to understand the scope of the project and budget needed for construction.
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