Firefighters worked into the night on Tuesday, after crashing waves flooded homes along the Esplanade at Altona and Seaholme.
Altona resident Mandy Dunne said she got one car out of the underground garage of her home with just seconds to spare.
“Our cars were parked out on the street and we just saw that the water was rising from the ocean and just spilling over and so we moved them and then all the water started coming again because the whole street was flooded.
“It just kept pouring inside.
“So, we had to get our other vehicle as well.
“We got out just by about an inch before it [the water] hit the exhaust and that would’ve been the end of our vehicle.
“We’ve got furniture downstairs as well.
“I’m devastated about my furniture that’s still sitting in the garage floating but I appreciate it’s an act of nature, I guess.
“My husband’s in there at the moment trying to stop everything from floating out.”
Newport senior station officer Norm McWilliam said firefighters were using all the pumps they could find to drain water from the garages back into the sea.
“There was a high tide with the wind blowing, unfortunately, the wrong way, which has flooded several homes including some around the corner.
“We’re using a suction hose off our own truck but we’ve needed two because of the depth of the garages.
“We’ve also used our rescue truck from Sunshine and it’s got two small pumps we’re using, so we’re using all our pumps we can get.
“It’s unfortunate but that’s just how the weather is at the moment.
“We have to make sure we get this out before the next high tide comes.”
Long-time Altona resident Claudio Madrussen said he observed waves travelling at up to 100km\h.
“They were just racing across the bay and then hitting the wall here and then just a spectacular splash.
“It basically happens once every 10 years; you can expect something like this.
“You’ll get your northerly busters, but when it comes from the south it’s obviously got a lot of water behind it that just has to go somewhere.
“Unfortunately it finishes here.”
Altona SES deputy controller Peter Tester said the unit received 42 calls for help between 11am and 10.30pm on Tuesday.
“The most significant issues were flooding of houses along the Esplanade and Beach Street in Altona/Seaholme.
“SES volunteers provided sandbagging, while MFB crews assisted with pumping out of flooded underground areas.
“The majority of calls were for building damage which included fences blown over, missing roofing material and minor structural damage.
“There were also a number of large trees fallen across main roads, disrupting traffic.”
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