3 minute read
Shocking deluge jolts sports chief before swim to safety
Less than two hours after first noticing water in Badminton North Harbour’s car park, the organisation’s chief executive was forced to swim from the flood-wrecked building.
In the late afternoon of ‘Flood Friday’ (27 January), Glenn Cox, his staff and coaches had the place busy with training. By 5.30pm, as water rose in the car park, they sent players home.
Cox thought about sandbagging the step to the main entrance of the building, but by 6.30pm water was rising from below the floorboards.
It “escalated particularly quickly”, he says. He and four remaining staff set about moving office gear off the floor.
“I got a belt from one of the plugs,” says Cox, who decided it was time to turn off the power at the mains and send the others on their way.
It was by then around 6.45pm. He was worried where his deaf dog had got to. With calling out ineffective, Cox headed for an exit with a glass door that had water half-way up it. Once he pushed it open and got outside, he had to swim to find his dog and get them both to higher ground.
Water inside the 70m-long by 40m-wide building later peaked at nearly two metres high, Cox said.
When it drained away, it left downstairs offices, changing rooms, shops and the playing hall filled with toxic residue. Within two days the walls sprouted thick mould. “It was white and other colours and we were told that’s not good.”
A team of workers stripped the lower wallboards off. Even weeks later, Cox finds it hard to credit how quickly the badminton facility was made unusable. “We were proud of what we’ve been able to provide. That’s just been blown away to a shell.”
Built in the 1970s, the original five-court facility has been twice expanded over the decades. It was in use seven days a week, from 6am to 11pm, with increasing booking demand and an average 85 per cent occupancy. Cox would love to build back, bigger and better.
Heari ng and Memory
Heari ng and Memory
Heari ng and Memory
Heari ng and Memory
Heari ng and Memory
Heari ng and Memory
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
Did you know hearing is good for your brain? Recent studies show people with mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia, and people with severe hearing loss are five times more likely1. If you or someone you love has trouble hearing, book in for a hearing check. If you have a hearing loss - get hearing aids! If you have hearing aidswear them!
1. Strutt, et al (2019). Hearing Loss & Dementia Incidence in Australia Findings from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study
