IT’S going to be “touch and go” for 18-hole Riverside golf course on whether its levee banks will be able to withstand major flooding in the next few weeks, a club boss says.
Modelling by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority shows that most of the course, with the exception of the 11th hole on a sandy ridge, will be submerged by flooding that is expected to be comparable with the 1975 level.
Riverside Golf Club president Michael Holcroft said the worst of any possible flooding on the course may not come directly from the river.
“If the modelling is correct, the inundation may well come in from behind us, whether that may be along roads or adjacent to us. That’s pretty much beyond our control,” he said.
“And if it comes from the other direction, our access is going to be cut off.
“If you look at the modelling, the nearby racecourse, roads and obviously people’s houses would be flooded, too. It would be terrible for the community.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s latest flood warning shows the Murray River at Mildura Weir may exceed the major flood level (38.5 metres Australian Height Datum) between November 26-30.
The bureau says it may reach 38.6m AHD in early December, with “further rises possible”.
Holcroft said the club had reinforced existing levee banks around the course in recent days.
“What we’ve done is check the levees and made sure they’re maintained. But we’re not building them up,” he said.
“We’re going to have sandbags at the ready if there’s any failure (of levee banks).
“We could probably withstand close to 38.5 (metres) at weir level, but that’s touch and go for us. We might not be able to defend that level of flooding.
“If it comes up higher than that, which is possible, we’re in a lot of trouble, as will others around us.”
Holcroft said one of the biggest fears for the club, and indeed the broader region, was a second peak following the expected first one by early next month.
“They’ve just let out a huge amount of water from the Hume Dam (at the junction of the Murray and Mitta Mitta rivers near Albury) which is going to get to us in four weeks’ time,” he said.
“In a perfect world, we’ll get the first peak and it’ll drop off a bit so that the second peak is no bigger.
“But if they join up and we get more rain events, the problems will only get worse.”
He said the other big problem for golf courses like Riverside and Coomealla – where flooding is already occurring – is that every new rainfall event worsens the situation.
“We got 40mm of rain in the downpour on Saturday night. It’s still laying around because we have no drainage now,” Holcroft said.
“We’ve also got disaster planning going on for staff and our membership (of about 700), and we’re in preliminary discussions with other golf courses to see what arrangements can put in place if the worst comes to worst.
“The responses have been very positive so far.
“The recovery decisions in our disaster planning depend on how long the course is under water. Unfortunately, if it does go under, it’s likely it’ll be for a couple of months.”
