From: The Racketeer 34, August 1999
The Great Flood
by Chris Weir
Chris Weir puts on his wellington boots.
What happened?
ON THE 17 July (Saturday) you may have been woken up by a dramatic thunderstorm that passed over Nottingham in the middle of the night. During the torrential rain that followed many local roads were inundated by surface water. Exciting as all this was at the time, the storm proved to have serious consequences for Mapperley Park's clubhouse.
When I visited the clubhouse, later on Saturday morning, the sight that greeted me was not a happy one. Water was lying over most of the carpeting and dirty flood water lay several inches deep in the shower and toilet areas. The settee had absorbed water and deposits of black silt lay in sodden heaps on part of the carpeting.
Why did it happen?
The first thing to say here is that this has happened before. The last time was about five years ago, under similar circumstances. The problem relates to the local drainage system. The main water drain comes down Mapperley Hall Drive, then takes a sharp right-angled turn into Carisbrooke Drive.
In the event of heavy rain, an accumulation of water gathers at the bend of the drain and starts to back-up. A proportion of this water then tries to find other routes away. As smaller pipes, for our showers and toilets, lead off this main route, the water then escapes down this alternative route, soon emerging through our showers and loos and into the main clubhouse. This water is not related to the sewage system but it is far from pleasant!
What are we doing about the problem?
Following the earlier incident the Council agreed that in the event of a 'repeat' incident it would clear damaged effects away and undertake basic cleaning. We therefore contacted them immediately and their workmen did indeed undertake this work. Since then we have engaged a team of professional cleaners to do a detailed clean-up of the premises and various members have been chasing up quotes in connection with the insurance claim. This includes quotes for new carpeting and court cleaning.
The committee apologises for the inconvenience that has been caused to members over the 'flood' but hopes that members will appreciate the difficulties we have faced. The committee has tried to act as quickly as possible to return the clubhouse to use.
And what about the future?
While clubhouse life has virtually returned to normal, the long-term problem, unhappily, remains. Given a similar outburst of rain a similar incursion could occur. At the time of the previous flood, the Council attempted to put pressure on Severn Trent to undertake alterations to the local drains so that this did not happen again. The Council say that Severn Trent have included these alterations in their long-term plans, but this does not imply any commitment to actually effecting the plans. The club, therefore, will be contacting both the Council and Severn Trent in order to express its dissatisfaction with the present situation and to ask that something be done. Any progress will of course be communicated to members.