Update, Wednesday, 12.50pm:
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Bendigo Community Health Service has been forced to close parts of its building after heavy rain caused part of the ceiling to fall in and flooded some areas.
About a third of the building’s reception area, parts of the clinical corridor and a community area called Fork in the Road all suffered flood damage.
No one was hurt as the ceiling fell in.
BCHS CEO Kim Sykes said they had no warning of the problem, as the building had not leaked during storms previously.
“It’s one of those things that happen,” Ms Sykes said.
“There was a lot of rain in a short time, it was more than some areas of our building could cope with, and as a result the building sustained water damage.
“We’re fortunate that it’s something that it’s relatively easy to fix, but isn’t something that we’d invite clients into or want staff to work in.”
The health service has closed the parts of the building affected by damage.
Patients whose appointments have been affected have been contacted individually. They will be seen at the Eaglehawk or Headspace sites.
Ms Sykes said they were hoping to re-open the Bendigo Central building early next week, but would re-evaluate on a daily basis.
Earlier:
Flooding damaged two businesses in the CBD during a heavy period of rain, between 3 and 4pm on Tuesday.
Bendigo received 17.2 millimetres of rain over Tuesday, after a stormy 24 hour period that saw the State Emergency Service attend six jobs.
A business in Hargreaves Street suffered significant internal damage after a problem with the box guttering caused it to flood. The SES received a call to this business at 3.28pm.
Bendigo Community Health Service posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon to say the the central site was due to storm damage.
A Mitchell Street Business was also inundated, but mainly around the outside of the business. The SES were called to this at about 3.40pm.
Fallen trees creating traffic hazards made up the bulk of the other jobs the SES attended.
Bendigo Unit Duty Officer Darren Masters urged people to be aware of any problems their businesses or homes might have and prepare for those.
“It was a fairly small storm in the scheme of things and it’s a reminder of what’s to come, we’re heading into the fire and stormy part of the year,” Mr Masters said.
More to come.
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