BUSINESESSES and residents have spent the weekend counting the cost of flood damage.As the rain continued to pour last night, staff at Eliades Take Away in California Gully tried to run their business and clean up what they could.Fred Eliades estimated the damage at more than $40,000, after Bendigo experienced its biggest downpour in two years.“At one point we had almost three feet of water in the shop,” he said.“Things were just floating around the shop, and a lot of the stock was damaged.“The water just kept coming in, and all we could really do was watch it rise.”Mr Eliades said the flood was the worst he had seen in five years at the shop.Because the business had to close on Friday night, Saturday and most of Sunday, it had lost a substantial amount of money.“This is one of Bendigo’s biggest weekends and we’ve had to close.” Ron Moss of R & J Moss Automotive Electrical said he would need to wait until things had been cleaned up before he could assess the damage.“We’ve still got a fair bit of work to do.”Golden Square property owner Tim Hughan was one of many who spent the weekend ripping up carpet and assessing the damage.Mr Hughan said up to 60cm of water flooded the dwelling in Thistle Street when three surges hit on Friday night.“We still don’t know how much damage there is, but we’ve pulled up all the carpet. I’d say the skirting boards, kick boards and some plaster is damaged as well.“It’s the second flood we’ve had in two years. The creek across the road 'bottlenecks'. It’s just pretty annoying.”Eaglehawk ward councillor Peter Cox is encouraging everyone who has experienced any kind of flooding to contact council officers tomorrow.“Then we can get a good list together of where there are problems, and we can look at the causes,” he said.

• See the slideshow of the floods in Bendigo