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SES crews battle Ballarat floods

The State Emergency Service (SES) battled floodwaters in the Ballarat suburb of Delacombe yesterday, as a dam threatened to break its banks and flood homes.

The dam at the Meadow Gardens Retirement Village was sandbagged to prevent widespread flooding, after more than 60 millimetres of rain fell.

The SES regional duty officer, John Hooper, says volunteers, including residents, used about 80 sandbags to stop the dam overflowing.

"We diverted the flow into the dam, and helped stop the flow into the dam, so that will stop it overtopping any more or having any more problems with the bank that's there," he said.

The SES attended about 30 calls for help in Ballarat, mostly because of water damage.

But the SES spokesman, Alan Briggs, says Melbourne bore the worst of the storm.

"We had just over 30 calls in the Ballarat area but the majority of the calls across the state were actually in the metropolitan area," he said.

"The SES volunteers attended over 1000 calls over the weekend, and just over 800 of those were in the metro area."

The heavy rain has boosted the chances of the region reaching its average spring rainfall.

- ABC

© ABC 2009

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