By Callum Ludwig
The township of Yarra Glen was devastated by the floodwaters after the Thursday 13 October rain and the Yarra Glen Recreation Reserve was not spared of damage.
The carpet and floorboards of the clubrooms were drastically damaged by the water and major cleanup and restoration works will be required.
Yarra Glen Cricket Club President Kelly Coghlan said sitting in a flood zone is one of the downsides to living in such a beautiful part of the country.
“It has come up much higher than expected this time around, over the top of the deck right in through the clubrooms. We’ve got a hard layer of sludge right throughout the clubrooms and are awaiting an insurance assessor now, but their focus is obviously up north where it should be right now,” she said.
“Yarra Ranges Council’s asset protection group came through today [Thursday 20 October] and at this stage, we have no timeline as to when it might be fixed.”
The Yarra Glen community might not even be through the worst of it yet, with more heavy rain predicted over the next week. The Bureau of Meteorology’s forecast predicts as much as 74mm of rainfall for Yarra Glen from Friday 21 to Wednesday 26 October with either a 100 or 90 per cent chance of rain each day.
Ms Coghlan said every time there is heavy rainfall in Yarra Glen for a few days, the township expects to be flooded.
“It’s a yearly event just about, and as much as it can’t really get any worse at the clubrooms, one of the concerns is whether it is safe to start cleaning up or not, and we don’t know whether we will have to do it all again in a week,” she said.
“As well as Council, we are working with Cricket Victoria and the Ringwood District Cricket Association (RDCA) and trying to keep them updated. We’re having to double-check with teams as we go to see whether or not they’re comfortable with what we can and can’t offer and obviously there is profit lost n having to find alternative venues for events.”
The Yarra Glen Cricket Club is not even the first Yarra Glen sporting club to be affected by flooding this year, with the Yarra Glen Football Netball Club having to forfeit their hosting rights for finals in the Division One competition as the Yarra River burst its banks and flooded the ground.
YGFNC representatives still ran the stalls and other facilities at the replacement venue but missed out on a large community opportunity to bring people to the township at the otherwise popular ground.
Ms Coghlan said right now facilities are limited but they are trying to keep the community spirit up.
“We have got no changerooms, no canteen, no function space. We have managed to clean up our indoor nets and they’ve come up beautifully, we had kids back training last night,” she said.
“But it is really hard to host because of course teams want private change rooms and we only have public toilet facilities. We just want to get players out on the field as much as possible. We understand there are policies and protocols, but we really just need some help.”
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Environment and Infrastructure Bill Millard said Yarra Ranges Council is aware of the flooding at this site, and contractors have been engaged to clean both pavilions and assess the impact of this flooding event.
“We understand this may be inconvenient for the sporting clubs which utilise the space, but we are experiencing wetter than normal conditions, which is causing further problems for Council assets and private property owners,” he said.
“Yarra Ranges Council is committed to improving sport and recreation facilities for our local community and this facility is included in our Pavilions re-development program.”
Yarra Ranges Council confirmed an upgrade is on the list of community facilities and pavilions in line for an upgrade but does not have a confirmed timeline for the project.
“Council has been fortunate to work with and have the support of federal and state government grants, as well as receive significant contributions by clubs, to help deliver previous projects. We will be looking for similar support for this project when it is ready to be delivered,” said Mr Millard.
