With rainwater run-off headed for the drains and the sandbags removed, Doveton resident Veronica Hill has little to fear in flooding, as flood mitigation works have been completed in Eugenia Street.
The new drainage upgrades include the installation of new pipes and grated pits to capture stormwater flows at the low point, and to safely divert it away from nearby homes that had previously experienced flooding.
In December 2024, Veronica Hill, a former Casey Citizen of the Year award winner, was featured in an episode of A Current Affair, revealing her home at the end of the street, just at the entrance of Hawthorn Road, had been subject to constant flooding every time it rained.
This was due to the lack of a working drainage system, something that Casey council had been aware of since 2021.
In late 2024, Mayor Stefan Koomen addressed the issue, recounting that even before he became mayor, he had met Veronica during his door-to-door campaigns.
It was then that she raised the issue, with Koomen saying that “we want to make sure that those long-term residents still love their community and feel like they’re being supported”.
Speaking on the completed works, Koomen said that seeing a problem fixed is “really good, and I think that’s why we got into the role of councillors”.
“It’s to try and help residents and to make sure that they have basic services like roads, rates and rubbish.
“So being able to see through one of these little fixes is always rewarding,” he said.
He also added that balance, especially when it comes to developing newer areas in Casey, to maintaining more established ones, is incredibly important.
Likewise, such is he role of councillors in these local communities, and the main reason is “to make sure that everyone has their own voice and is represented”.
“That’s the way we get the decision-making right, and we make sure that we balance the investment in the old and in the new.
“I think [the completion] shows that things are improving in Casey and that we, the councillors, are available if residents are having issues and something is not being acted on,” he said.
The upgrade is part of the recently adopted $124 million capital works program for 2025/2026 in Casey, which also sees a wide series of investments in renewing and expanding infrastructure throughout the city.
