A HENLEY Brook resident’s property sits underwater with no end in sight, after the City of Swan abruptly halted drain clearing works on a creek running through the property.

The long-running flooding crisis around Dayton and Henley Brook has been affecting residents in the area for a long period of time.

The city’s team had reportedly commenced efforts on Wednesday, November 5 to clear long-blocked drains along Saint Leonards Creek, only for the action to be abruptly halted, leaving local properties still flooded from the trapped water.

The works were a direct response to resident complaints over the rising flood damage, which they attribute to poor drainage maintenance combined with increased water runoff from new developments.

Henley Brook resident Robyn Anne, whose property sits along the creek, said the flooding has devastated her livelihood.

“Leonard Creek runs through my property… because of the new developments pumping water out, its risen the levels,” she said.

“The drains running along the creek haven’t been cleaned or maintained, so they’re not able to handle the amount of water flow.

“It’s been banking up and flooding.”

In the height of winter, four of Ms Anne’s horse paddocks were completely submerged and the flooding has caused extensive damage to her training track which she uses for income.

“I waited until most of winter was over and had the training track repaired, which is quite expensive work,” she said.

“Probably four days later we had a day and a half of rain and it’s just washed the whole thing away again.

“I’ve just paid to have this training track repaired and it’s actually worse than it was before.”

Ms Anne said she contacted the City of Swan who came out to assist in clearing the drains but said they abruptly halted due to a dispute between the City of Swan and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions (DBCA).

The creek which flows upriver past her property, has begun pooling a small wetland area along her boundary fence, which she said was the cause of her issues.

“They were only allowed to clear the drain on my property, not the one on my boundary fence where it overflows on my track,” she said.

“They had just started, and then they were coming onto my property to clear the other side of the drains when they told me that they had to cease immediately.

“They said it had something to do with revegetation by the DBCA, but the council should be able to clear the drain.

“It’s not only my property that’s been damaged, there’s a large number of others along the creek that have as well.

“It could have all been sorted now, and a week later we’re still waiting.”

The DBCA owns and manages more than 31 million hectares of land and waters and is the largest provider of nature-based tourism opportunities in Western Australia.

City of Swan chief executive officer Steven Cain has assured the resident that the work will continue as soon as possible.

“The city (has) received another residents request to liaise with the DBCA over drain clearing,” he said.

“The city is continuing with routine drainage works in the area.”

When contacted for comment, a DBCA spokesperson said the jurisdiction problem was something they were unaware of.

“The proposed drainage clearance works by the City of Swan do not require approvals from the DBCA,” they said.

“DBCA’s involvement at Saint Leonards Creek is limited to a small restoration program aimed at improving water quality and habitat, on several private properties in a localised area of the creek.”