THE South West saw heavy rainfall lead to widespread flooding of roads, parks and bridges at the weekend.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported water levels in the Busselton Coast Catchments had peaked due to heavy rainfall in the catchments, with rainfall totals of 90mm to 180mm recorded from Friday to Sunday.
Several drains and floodways were recorded to be above the Moderate flood levels, including the Sabina Main Drain at Vasse Hwy CB3, which was above 3.30m at one point.
Parts of Princefield Road, Layman Road and all of Ludlow-Hithergreen Road were closed due to flooding, while various roads in the Yoongarillup area and Busselton Townsite had water coverage.
City of Busselton Engineering and Works director Oliver Darby said Busselton was a low lying coastal area, which was predominantly constructed on former wetland areas.
“The area has a high water table all year round and the nature and topography of the area means that water from low lying areas cannot disperse easily when the ground is saturated or drains/floodways have reached capacity,” he said.
“The City designs infrastructure to different criteria based the road hierarchy, generally a one in five-year rain event.
“The events over the weekend were considerably higher than the one in five-year events and had not been experienced since the 80s and 90s.”
Mr Darby said this, in addition to four days of higher than normal tides, meant that flood water could not disperse.
