The flood of 2022….
During the days of 12-14th October, 2022, Victoria experienced a “flood event” with particularly heavy falls to the North West of Melbourne. On Friday 14th October, this large volume of water, draining via the Yarra River to the ocean, created a flood event in Heidelberg. The Yarra River, peaking at 8.6m, broke the banks of Warringal Park, and flooded Warringal Park Oval. The normal summer level of the Yarra at Heidelberg is between 1.2m-1.4m.
On Wednesday 12th October, 2022, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a flood warning for Victoria, based on rainfall both in Metro and Regional Victoria. Leading up to this day, many warnings were issued about an impending “rain event” with the media calling it a “rain bomb”, and flooding should be expected in low-lying areas. The heaviest falls were expected on Thursday 13th. The Viewbank Weather Station (nearest BoM station) recorded 32.2mm of rain to 9am Friday, with 16.4 mm recorded the day prior.
Friday morning arrived to a clear sky and bright sunshine. The ground showed some minor flooding (large puddles, etc), but this was not unusual after heavy rain.
Friday Morning - 14th October
By 10.30 am, however, the ground was largely covered with water, and the park was now inaccessible as access roads had now been covered in flood water. By midday, the water had entered both the scoreboard building and club changerooms under the social club building. There was now nothing to do but wait for the water to recede and assess the damage.
During the afternoon, the above pictures were shared via social media by club members, and subsequently “re-shared” by many people, including Victorian SES (twitter), politicians, and various media outlets.
The effect of “Tones” (above-left) tweeting the image of the flooded oval, and “tagging” @Raf_Epstein from the ABC resulted in an ABC journalist reaching out to the Cricket club requesting an interview to discuss the effect of the floods on local sport. At 5.30pm, Dean Turner (HCC President) was interviewed by “Raf”, and the recording of that interview is available below.
Saturday 15th October (clean up begins…)
As quickly as it arrived, the flood subsided, leaving silt and damage in its wake. Water in some areas had reached knee to waist height. Members of all 3 clubs (HCC, HFJC, HFNC) gathered at the ground to begin the messy task of cleaning up, salvaging what could be salvaged, and throwing out damaged equipment.
