Queensland floods February 2022
When the Bureau of Meteorology issued issued severe weather warnings for South-East Queensland on Friday February 25, 2022 with heavy rain expected to continue across the region into Saturday morning, people started thinking about how to protect their homes and clubs from the inevitable deluge of water. Flood warnings were issued while the rain continued to bucket down with little respite.
Emergency warnings were in place at several locations including the Sunshine Coast, Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba. Major flood warnings were issued at 8pm on Sunday February 27 for the lower Brisbane River around the central business district and the Logan and Albert rivers following continued rain throughout Sunday. A warning was issued to communities around the Logan and Albert rivers including Logan, Beaudesert, MacLean Bridge and Waterford. More than 400 mm of rainfall was recorded in the Brisbane area on Sunday.
Unfortunately, this flooding affected many clubs in Queensland. While some clubs suffered from flooded greens due to rainfall and overflow, other clubs were hit badly with flood waters going through their clubhouses and severely damaging the building and its contents.
While it’s too early to say exactly what damage was caused to each club, we do know that the following clubs have been badly affected*.
-The Albert
-Goodna
-Jindalee
-Kandanga
-Maryborough Services (the second time this year)
-Oxley
-Samford
-Windsor
Our thoughts are with all clubs* and members who have suffered during this time. One thing we know with certainty is that the bowls community sticks together and helps wherever possible. It’s been great to see how bowlers and non-bowlers in local communities have banded together and helped in many ways. From providing coffee and sandwiches, to donning gloves and boots and sweeping or scrubbing muddy services, many volunteers have done what is needed to start cleaning up. Well done to everyone involved.
There are multiple grants available to flood-affected clubs, please keep an eye on government and council websites. For now, please see the following links that might help:
Grants and support for flood-affected Queenslanders (link to Queensland Treasury)
Bowls Queensland Disaster Relief Fund
Bowls Australia Disaster Relief Fund
Sport and Recreation Disaster Recovery Program (detailed info available through the program guidelines)
*If we’ve missed your club off the list, please let us know! Email media@bowlsqld.org with details.
Bowls Queensland media will be following up with affected clubs and will provide an update to this story once we have more information.
