Council has applied for funds for three planning projects and a minor infrastructure improvement project from the second round of the federal government's Disaster Ready Fund.

The projects are aimed at reducing flooding in the Huntly, Epsom, Junortoun, Heathcote and Goornong areas.

It includes a drainage analysis and flood mitigation action plan for Huntly focused around the Goldleaf wetland and the development of waterway management plans for Epsom, Huntly, Junortoun and Heathcote.

It would also fund a flood study for Goornong along with a minor drainage and culvert improvement program.

Following community meetings about the December 2023/January 2024 flooding, council inspections of more than 400 properties had established that 113 houses flooded over the floor, 44 had significant under-floor inundation and approximately 88 lost fencing.

Life-long Huntly resident and former community flood group member Lindsay Sergeant welcomed the news some action was being taken but was frustrated at the long delay and the council's previous denial of responsibility for any role in the severity of recent flood events.

"They've gone on for the last six months saying there are no issues," he said.

"They're admitting it now whilst still approving all these housing developments.

"They're running this philosophy that the development isn't causing any issues, and quite clearly it is."

As for earlier council statements that the flood events were unprecedented, they were a lot of rot," he said.

"These events have been happening on a regular basis since about 2011.

"We've been banging on about it for years."

Mr Sargeant said he understood the City of Greater Bendigo had a backlog of tens of millions of dollars worth of drainage projects.

He said figures showed drainage expenditure over the past decade-and-a-half hadn't come close to reflecting population and rate increases.

Huntly locals were uncomfortable with the amount of housing development going on, he said, pointing to "some atrocious planning" that had taken place.

Residents like Trudi Marshall and Mark and Kylie Ware believe they have been suffering the impacts of poor planning decisions and building housing developments on floodplains.

He also believed the Back Creek needed to be "cleaned out" in the suburb to relieve a lot of flooding in the area.

Despite his reservations, Mr Sergeant thought the council's efforts would be "well accepted by the community, as long as it's not just talk".

While Mr Sergeant wasn't personally affected by the recent flooding, Gungurru Road resident Tony Flaherty was.

"It was like Niagara Falls coming into our place," he said.

"It comes from the Back Creek, which is just clogged."

His property, which is in "the one per cent flood level" zone - meaning theoretically it has a one-in-100-year chance of flooding - had now been flooded twice, he said, with the drainage system in the area "just too small" for the demand being put on it.

Mr Flaherty said he had been "at loggerheads" with the council and was skeptical when he heard its recent announcement about the projects.

"I would have thought that all of this would have been done long, long ago," he said.

"It seems to me we wait until the very last minute, until people are virtually at breaking point until we do something about it."

He was also skeptical about recent council work to relieve blockages in his area.

"A lot of people whose streets have had the excavator in just sort of laugh at it," he said.

"I could have done a better job with a shovel."

Overall, there had been far too much delay and too little done to address flooding problems, he said.

But still, he hoped the council would "get funding and be able to do something".

The council said regardless of the funding outcome, work was likely to go ahead to remove debris in and around culverts and bridges, make minor culvert improvements and clear table drains along roadsides.

"We would be targeting McIvor Creek in Heathcote, Back Creek in the Epsom/Ascot/Huntly areas, Splitters Creek in Junortoun, Bendigo Creek north of Howard Street, Epsom, and Racecourse Creek, Epsom," CEO Andrew Cooney said.

A comprehensive audit of damage to the city's road and drainage network, meanwhile, had found more than 5700 "defects", ranging from small scale culvert clearing to full reconstruction of sections of road, which would cost an estimated $15 million to fix.

"Approximately 80 per cent of the rural road network had some form of damage to it," Mr Cooney said.

"We are currently prioritising and programming the works, which will require the support of a range of contractors."

Under the joint state and federal government funding program that the council hoped would cover the work, it would need to be completed within two years.