Residents return to Cordelia Grove

THE remaining residents displaced by flooding from Calvary’s Cordelia Grove aged care home in Anglesea have been welcomed back.

Heavy storms on January 28 led to blocked drains around the home that caused the carpark to flood and water to enter the recently refurbished building, prompting an emergency evacuation of 49 residents to three Calvary homes in the region.

In April, 24 residents were able to return while renovation works were completed on other sections of the home, and their neighbours were able to go home earlier this month.

“None of this would have been possible without the opportunities extended to us via our three sister sites Calvary Elouera, Balmoral Grove or Roccoco”, Calvary general manager Sherry McMahon said of the organisation’s homes in Geelong and Torquay that accommodated the residents from Anglesea.

Ms McMahan commended residents and staff for their “patience and understanding during this time”.

“(It was) an amazing team effort in very unusual circumstances”.

At the home to visit his two bed-bound parents as it started to flood in January, Graham Conn helped co-ordinate the evacuation of its residents.

“Staff were holding doonas against the front windows to try to hold back the tide. The water was rising up so fast we didn’t know how we were going to get them out,” he said at the time.

Mr Conn called a local bus owner to take dozens of residents to safety.

An ex-plumber by trade, Mr Conn said it was not the first time the home had been threatened with inundation by water and that better drainage may be needed, particularly given the home’s location at the bottom of a valley on a similar level to the nearby Anglesea River.

“(It) happened last year, I think, the carparks filled up but it didn’t get into the building. It’s something they’ll need to investigate in the future how to deal with this.”

Calvary has previously said mitigation works to prevent the home flooding in the future were being assessed.