It also brought out frustrations that their calls to have the watercourse at the back of their property cleared had so far fallen on deaf ears.

Mr Allan said he notified the City of Greater Bendigo late last year that Sunrise Gully was littered with rubbish, including car batteries and garden chairs.

“We just need an appropriate machine to scrape the silt and debris from the watercourse,” he said.

“With all the silt and rubbish sitting in it, it makes it a flood plain.

“With the rain we get, we can’t say that it won’t flood.

“If it is cleaned out properly it will flow better; it’s full of rubbish, but it’s not really obvious to the public.”

North Central Catchment Management Authority flood plain manager Camille White said Sunrise Gully was a designated water drain and that it was the joint responsibility of NCCMA and the City of Greater Bendigo.

“The City of Greater Bendigo has a list of priority works that need to be done,” she said.

City of Greater Bendigo manager of parks and natural environment Mitch Kemp said many of creeks and waterways across Bendigo were littered with debris following the storm on March 5.

“We’re working our way through as much as we can,” he said.

Mr Kemp said Sunrise Gully had been identified as an area that need to be cleaned.