UPPER Plenty residents were stunned when a wild storm lashed the township but left most neighbouring areas alone on 14 February.

The mighty storm resulted in one family becoming trapped in their car, major flood damage to houses and businesses, and busted roads.

Wallan Police Acting Sergeant Daniel Sage was tending to floods on the corner of Whittlesea-Wallan Rd and Epping-Kilmore Rd when he received a call about a family who were trapped in their car on Mahadys Rd, about 2km west of the Upper Plenty township.

The water came up to the car’s windows, leaving the young man, his partner and two children under two years old stranded.

Sgt Sage commandeered a tow truck when he saw that his police car would not be able to get through to the man, but by the time he got to the scene, the stranded car was being rescued by a four-wheel-drive that pushed it off the road.

“The storm damage was pretty significant, especially to residential properties and the local nursery,” Sgt Sage said.

“Fences were washed away and all the graded roads were damaged. And they were just done recently.

“The storm was confined to the hills on Upper Plenty. It only rained lightly in Wallan.”

Chris Christodoulou was in his truck when the road flooded, and for a moment he too might have been trapped.

“The headlights were under water, I though the electrics were going to go, but thankfully they didn’t and we pulled through,” he said.

Mr Christodoulou’s nursery Sticks N Stones was one of the hardest-hit businesses in the area.

He lost most of the products that were sitting outdoors, including water tanks, fencing materials, mulch and soils, and the shed sustained floor and structure damage.

Chris is yet to work out the damage bill, but said it would be “tens of thousands of dollars”.

“I was shocked, in total disbelief. It’s like the sky opened up and said ‘I think I’ll pick Upper Plenty today.’

“We got contractors to come with machines to move all the damaged items because a lot of them were too large to man-handle.”