Flood update 26 Jan 2011
Mid January should have seen the Club’s many competitive and non-competitive Tennis programs in full swing again after the short Christmas & New Year break. Instead, everything is in disarray because of the Brisbane River Flood.
To see the extent of the flooding of the UQ sporting facilities, see to the NearMap website. The high resolution aerial PhotoMaps show the flood waters just after the flood peak.
The immediate effect of the Flood is that Sunday Afternoon Social Tennis, Thursday Night Social Tennisand the Tuesday Night Practice Sessions are cancelled until further notice.
The Summer Series Doubles Tournament, scheduled for 22 January, had to be cancelled. The Summer Series Mixed Doubles Tournament, scheduled for 5 February, is also cancelled. A decision about theSummer Series Singles Tournament, scheduled for 18/19 February, will be made when the court situation becomes clearer.
The Club has found alternative courts off-campus for the 38 teams playing in the BNTA Summer Fixtures. Teams have been notified of the alternative court locations. This information has also been posted on the BNTA website.
Water to a depth of 1.6 metres swept across the courts and through the Pro Shop & 30:40 Café and the storerooms, plant room & toilets under the Clubhouse.
Many of the fences were destroyed, deep mud was deposited on all the courts, the synthetic grass was stripped off Courts 11 & 12 and the Pro Shop was wrecked. None of the light poles appear to have been damaged.
All of the mud should be off the courts by now but there is serious damage to the court surfaces, particularly the Rebound Ace, and the foundations on several courts.
At this stage, there is no firm information about how long it will take to rebuild the Tennis Centre. The most likely scenario is that some courts will be operational within the next month with the remaining courts gradually becoming operational over the following months.
Obviously, the availability of courts is crucial for the 2011(1) Season Fixtures which start in mid March. Provided there are at least 9 courts operational, there will be enough courts to run the Internal Fixtures and cater for BNTA Fixtures using courts at UQ and off-campus (as happened last year when most of the courts were closed because of safety issues over the light poles).
Materially, the Club didn’t lose a lot as the Clubhouse was above the flood level and there was time to get most equipment and supplies out of the storeroom and upstairs into the Clubhouse. However, the Office is still out of action because there is no power. This means the Club phone and fax are not working.
Although the situation is bad, it could have been worse. In the 1974 Flood, the water was a metre higher (just under the Clubhouse floor) and the granite courts were washed away, leaving a great hole where the courts had been. It was over a year before new courts were built.
