“I live in a flood zone ... I accept that,” Mr Patterson, 44, said yesterday.

Like many Creswick properties, the Albert St home where he has lived for 16 years was flooded three times from September last year. It sits within metres of the Creswick Creek.

“You’ve got to be realistic, you can’t blame anyone,” he said.

“I lost $300,000 worth of property, with repairs to my house.

“I’ve got a business that also got flooded ... there’s no insurance coverage. The home was almost totalled. Nearly all our contents were ruined, except for the clothes drier that was up on the wall.”

The self-described battler pointed to a smudge of paint on a rear shed, more than one metre off the ground.

“That’s the high water mark,” he said.

But as the tiny town braces for the anniversary of the January floods, Mr Patterson said he had been trying for 12 months to get the stormwater drain outside of his property at the rear repaired by council.

He said water began flooding into his backyard within 10 minutes of rain starting on Sunday. “I’m angry, frustrated and concerned ... not just for myself but for all the people that live along this side of Albert Street.”

Mr Patterson lives in the house with his wife, Donna, and two children, 17 and 22.

He said he’s had countless meetings with council officers and met with the shire’s acting chief executive officer Peter Reeve.

He said he is now planning to raise the matter with the Ombudsman.

He said the drain cannot handle the outflow from houses. When water rises rapidly, the level fills to higher than his own stormwater pipes, pushing water back into his backyard.

Acting council CEO Evan King said council officers were onsite yesterday and the drain was part of significant infrastructure across Creswick requiring upgrading.

Mr King said not many drains across the shire were able to cope with Sunday’s rainfall volume.

-The Courier