‘Bit disturbing’: Warwick sporting clubs on flooding aftermath, repairs

One sporting organisation has been left with a “never-before-seen” clean-up as waters tear through shed.

Flooding on Father Ranger Oval / Credit: Warwick Cowboys

Warwick sporting clubs were dealt different fates during this week’s floods, with some narrowly avoiding damage and others left with a massive clean-up bill.

Training for the rest of the week had been cancelled at Warwick Gymnastics Club as they dealt with “never-before-seen” flooding.

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Club president Coby Walker believed recent construction had contributed to the shed being inundated and mats saturated on Tuesday.

“We’ve been here 32 years and the flood this time was nowhere near as bad as ones that occurred in that time, so to have water in the shed is a bit disturbing,” he said.

“It appears clearing some of the area around us has allowed water to come through different paths and back up our drains and come into the shed.”

For the club, which recently dealt with $10,000 worth of storm damage in February last year, the damage was a another blow ahead of competitions.

“One of our seniors is at state this weekend and can’t train, she had to go to Toowoomba and that’s not an ideal lead up.”

The club still faced a massive clean-up despite modifications to the foam pit, which meant it had been mostly saved.

“We’ve got to dry the bottom of the mats and get everything uprooted and empty the foam pits again,” Walker said.

“It’s just a massive task.

“It takes days to do.”

Extent of flooding at Warwick Gymnastic Club /CREDIT:Warwick Gymnastics Club

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Meanwhile clubs at Queens Park had narrowly avoided destruction.

Warwick Wolves president Cameron Davey is waiting anxiously to see if fields are cleared by Saturday’s scheduled match.

“We’re sort of monitoring the field and see how we go,” he said.

“We just had a couple hundred of millimetres over the player fields and a little bit of water in the shed, but we had lifted everything from ground level so it didn’t damage anything too much.

“We don’t want to cancel so we’re hoping sun stays out and dries out everything.”

Queens Park, home of the Warwick Wolves, is completely underwater.

Warwick Cowboys president Dayne Barrett said he was “extremely grateful” the clubhouse suffered only minimal damage.

“We’re pretty good, we survived it all pretty well,” he said.

“We missed it by 20mm I reckon, because it came to 130mm, a little higher than what we expected.

“I think debris-wise we’re looking pretty good, we’ve had a look over the field and not much has washed onto it.”

Warwick Hockey Association president Carly Hansen was also keen to get back to fixtures on Thursday night after volunteers prepped the grounds against floodwaters.

“I think water only made it up to the shed, so we didn’t have to panic too badly,” she said.

“It was amazing to turn up Tuesday afternoon and have so many helpers down there.”

Warwick Parkrun has also been cancelled this Saturday as the area is still flooded.

—To help Warwick Gymnastic Club repair their facility, head to their working bee from Friday 3.30-6pm and Saturday 9am-1pm.

Originally published as ‘Bit disturbing’: Warwick sporting clubs on flooding aftermath, repairs