After his business was flooded for the third time in 12 months during Wednesday night's wild weather, Mr Forbes said he wanted council to get to the root of the problem by widening the underground

drainage pipes.

He said he had been asking council to fix the problem for the past seven-and-a-half years.

"Early this year they dug up Greenhalghs Rd and reasphalted it but didn't do anything about the drains. That project seriously affected my business so I hope they do something properly this time," he

said.

City of Ballarat chief executive officer Richard Hancock said council took the issue of drainage maintenance and capital improvement works extremely seriously.

He said that in the wake of the recent intense storms and associated flooding of Mr Forbes business, council's assets and engineering development staff would audit the drainage system in the Delacombe

area.

"Council outdoor staff responded to about 12 drainage related call-outs on Wednesday night.

"On attendance at each of the sites, drainage capacity was found to be the most likely problem in most instances due to the very high rainfall intensity," he said.

Mr Hancock said the audit would also review the impact of recent housing development in the area which Mr Forbes said had made drainage "100 times worse".

Seventeen Ballarat SES members clocked-up 85 man hours on Wednesday night after responding to 16 calls for help.

The torrential downpour caused water to come through ceiling in homes in Delacombe, Sebastopol and Alfredton.

Duty officer Matthew Burzacott said the most serious incident was in Knox St, Daylesford where water from the road flooded a man's office and garage just before 10pm.

"It was under quite a bit of water - it was basically like a small creek running through the house," he said.

The crew redirected the flow, bagged entrances and pumped the water out of the house.

Mr Burzacott said yesterday afternoon there had been no more calls for assistance or clean-ups.