Published on Tuesday, 23 May 2023 at 1:20:47 PM

Winter is just around the corner and with it comes wet and wild weather.

It’s vital that SJ residents are prepared for storms this winter, and there are several tasks you can carry out to keep your home protected from the wind and rain.

You can find some of our top tips for ensuring your property is “winter ready” below.

Trim the trees

Overgrown trees, bushes and plants can cause serious damage to properties during a storm.

Giving the trees around your place a trim will go a long way to not only keeping your own home safe, but your neighbours’ homes as well.

Inspect the gutters

Leaves, twigs and other debris can all accumulate within your gutters, eventually leading to clogged stormwater drains that can cause chaos around your property heavy rain.

Cleaning your gutters will allow stormwater to flow away from your property, minimising the chance of any flooding.

Check your grates, pits and trenches

You’ve done the gutters, but what about the stormwater grates, pits, and trenches? Any rubbish or debris that is covering pits, grates or trenches can block the flow of water to your stormwater drains.

Ensuring that these outlets are cleared regularly will keep the water flowing smoothly through your drains, away from your property and prevent blockages in your stormwater system.

Saturated ground

Do you have water pooling around your property when it’s raining? If there is pooling during heavy rains the ground can become saturated and start to expand and shift, causing damage to your pipes if they are older or brittle.

If you notice that the ground continues to be saturated even after the rain stops, you may have a problem and it would be worth getting a CCTV inspection to see what’s going on.

Know when to call the Shire

If the water level captured in the stormwater or rural drains on the boundary of your property has not dropped after seven (7) days since the last rain fall and your property is at risk of flooding, please lodge a request to the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale with supporting photos.

Please note this does not refer to paddocks/vacant land in flood prone and low lying areas as this will not be managed by the Shire.

Lodge a request

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