Lightning Ridge Bowling Club Fighting Flood Waters
A freak storm on the morning of Monday, 29 January hit the small outback town of Lightning Ridge in north-western NSW with force, flooding the Bowling Club and leaving it unable to operate as an evacuation centre as it usually would during times of emergency.
Lightning Ridge Bowling Club CEO Scott Bailey told ClubLIFE that when he arrived at work at around 8am there was only a light sprinkle of rain coming down — but it wasn’t long before the storm came hammering through, with Lightning Ridge Airport seeing 62.4 millimetres of rain in one hour to 11:53am.
The slow-moving storm ripped outside awnings off the roof and caused floodwaters to encroach on the venue through the front, back and side doors of the building.
“It wasn’t necessarily a lot of rain, it was more the tempest,” Scott said, adding the winds were so strong that the rain was being blown into the Club.
Before midday, the Club posted on Facebook that they were having to temporarily close while they waited for the SES to give advice and/or assistance.
“We are working towards reopening in a limited capacity at 4pm. This will see the bar and bistro open, there will be no TAB or bottleshop today,” Scott said in an email update.
“This will of course be weather dependent as significant amounts of further rain is expected this afternoon and tonight. I am pushing for this just so the locals have somewhere to eat and get out of the weather if there is a need.”
Scott also said that there were cleaners on hand with a shampoo machine to soak up as much water as possible, while two staff were hand-filling SES sandbags to assist in preventing further damage.
Given it is on a ridge, the Club is usually used as an evacuation centre and therefore is attempting to get up and running as soon as possible.
“The SES advised us they are not able to help unless it is an evacuation situation,” Scott said.
As of 3:30pm, the Club posted an update to their Facebook page that they were able to open with enough facilities for a place for locals affected by the weather to convene.
“The Club will reopen at 4pm with limited services. There will be meals available from 5.30pm at the bistro. A massive thank you to the Fire & Rescue, SES & club staff who have worked tirelessly in getting our Club ready to reopen,” the post read.
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