‘We’ve just got to put her together again’ says Beach Club boss amid storm detestation
The Beach Club at Collaroy was battered by the storm, with it’s balcony hanging by a thread and a hole through the middle ... but boss hopes to reopen tomorrow
Nth Beaches
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The boss of the club shattered by pounding waves during the ferocious storm, said he hopes to partly reopen tomorrow- despite a huge how in the middle of the building.
CEO of The Beach Club on Collaroy Beach, Robert McConnell, said engineers were due to assess the damage yesterday afternoon.
Dramatic pictures of the balcony of the club hanging over the edge attracted hundreds of locals to the beach to take a look.
Mr McConnell said: “The keg room, there’s a big hole where you can see the waves coming in, and it’s taken out the top balcony. All the vertical supports have been taken away, which has knocked out one of the biggest assets of the club.
“Until we get it assessed by engineers we don’t know where we are yet.”
The club closed at 6pm Sunday night as the conditions worsened.
However he said a key wall acting as a sea wall was still in place, so the building should be repairable.
Mr McConnell said: “At ten o clock the waves were towering over the building.
“She’s 100 years old. We’ve just got to put her together again.”
Many residents compared the weekends storm to bad weather in 1973 and recalled similar storms as far back as the 1940s.
Cafe owner Tarek Ibrahim, who runs Sloppy Tees at the front of the Beach Club building said he was unsure if he’d have to close too once repair work began, though the cafe was not damaged.
However he said tonight’s king tide brought worries more damage could happen.
“It was like a tsunami. Concrete pillars we saw them putting in were moved by the water. I spoke to people who said it was equivalent to (the storm in) 1973,” he said.
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