Point Reserve.
Camera IconPoint Reserve. Credit: Supplied/Carol Siedel

Swan River flooding ‘entertains’ Bassendean residents

Kristie LimEastern Reporter

BASSENDEAN residents were “entertained” by overflowing floods at parks near the Swan River at the weekend.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services issued a flood warning yesterday for people to take action in parts of the Perth metropolitan area in the Swan River catchment as minor flooding was expected.

The warning said water would be fast flowing and levels would rise quickly.

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Photos and videos taken at Point Reserve, Sandy Beach Reserve, Bindaring Park and the Ashfield Flats showed residents swimming and playing in the water.

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Bassendean resident Carol Siedel said the most popular destination was Point Reserve.

“The locals were being highly entertained and everyone was sort of driving around to all the various parks where they can see the Swan River,” she said.

“It was just heavy traffic going up North Road and West Road.

“The jetty at Point Reserve was totally under water on Sunday.”

Ms Siedel said she could not predict how high the floods were.

“The water was actually flowing from the river and into the park on Sunday afternoon,” she said.

“The big problem is that you got a lot of people who sort of go ‘wow this is amazing’ but we saw it in ’83 and the water got a lot higher than this.

“For a lot of residents in Bassendean who have not seen this before it is pretty amazing.”

Bureau of Meteorology flood and warning duty officer Luigi Incani said there had been varying levels of flooding in WA over the past week.

“We have had flooding up to major levels in Toodyay and in the Mortlop rivers in Northam and minor flooding down towards the upper reaches of the Swan River,” he said

“We have also had minor flooding in Walyunga.

“In the Perth metro, we only got a slight rise from water but it was only upper stream in Guilford…it got 2.3m high.”