Due to flooding, The University of Queensland (UQ) has extended the closure of its St Lucia, Gatton and Ipswich campuses until and including next Wednesday, January 19, 2011.
UQ Staff and students should contact their supervisor for details on operations at Herston and Princess Alexandra campuses.
Floodwaters have begun to recede, but students, staff and the general public are asked to not come onto the campuses until further notice due to health and safety issues associated with the floodwaters and debris left behind. Teams of UQ security and maintenance staff are patrolling the campuses 24-hours.
UQ Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Keniger said the water had retreated substantially since the peak at 5am.
“The flood level has fallen significantly during the day and seems to be draining away rapidly,” he said.
“The boat shed down by the Brisbane River, which was almost completely covered this morning, now just has water one-third of the way up the walls.
“Staff from UQ’s Property and Facilities division have now also been able to access buildings that had water inundation and are restoring electricity to these buildings.”
The University’s sewage system is not currently operating due to power loss.
UQ is developing a recovery plan to clean-up the campus and repair any damage, but the full extent of the work required will not be known until the floods have completely receded.
Professor Keniger said The University expected a lot of work would be needed to repair landscapes, roads, fences, paths and sports fields.
Access to UQ’s St Lucia campus is restricted, with most access roads still closed. Roads within the campus are closed and vehicles will not be allowed to access the campus.
A team of almost 40 staff from UQ's Property & Facilities and Information Technology Services sections, including from Security and Maintenance, have remained at the St Lucia campus round the clock to secure facilities and minimise flood damage on the campus
For staff
Staff at all UQ campuses are not required to attend work while The University is closed unless they are contacted by their staff supervisor.
Free counselling for UQ staff affected by the floods is available through UQ's Employee Assistance Program provider, Davidson Trahaire Corpsych (DTC) telephone 1300 360 364.
For students
It is expected that summer semester classes will resume on 20 January. However, it is not possible to say with certainty at this early stage that no further delay will be required, and updates will be posted on the website when more information is available.
Please refer to my.UQ for further updates.
For prospective students
The QTAC web site, used by domestic applicants to find out their offers and respond to them, is currently unavailable to due to power loses.
This service will be restored as soon as the power is restored to the QTAC premises in Milton, Brisbane. It is expected that when the QTAC service comes back on line, students will be able to accept their offer, and then access UQ’s on-line enrolment system.
If there are any difficulties experienced with enabling the on-line enrolment site, notices will be posted on the relevant web page, to advise students of the latest situation.
Once you have found out the status of your QTAC offer, if you have an enquiry about your application to UQ, you can email admissionenquiries@admin.uq.edu.au
UQ Flood Update
A lower than expected flood peak early this morning has given UQ’s St Lucia campus some reprieve.
However, it is expected to take some time to cleanup, restore essential services and repair flood damage.
St Lucia campus areas affected include low lying sports grounds, maintenance and storage buildings along Glasshouse and Services Roads, the swimming pool complex, tennis centre, basements of multi-level carparks, the Corporate Services building, the Human Movement Studies building, International House, The UQ Regiment, the Margaret Cribb Child Care Centre, Munro Centre Child Care, glasshouses and associated facilities and the basements of the Sustainable Minerals Institute and UQ Centre.
Some of the residential accommodation also experienced minor flooding. Emmanuel College on the St Lucia campus of UQ was evacuated yesterday and a group of 77 Korean school students relocated next door to King’s College.
There they joined another group of 61 Korean school students, from a separate school.
Both student groups are in Brisbane to learn English and to do some sightseeing.
An additional 13 people also are staying at Kings College’s, bringing the total currently accommodated there to 151.
UQ’s Gatton campus is now accessible with floodwaters dropping overnight. The campus, which has been relying on back-up power generators, now has electricity to the entire campus. Gatton has no sewage treatment, but has a limited potable water supply from underground water reservoir.
The Ipswich, Herston and Princess Alexandra Hospital campuses have not been affected by flooding.
Customs House in the city has escaped the floods, but does not have any power and will remain closed until further notice.
UQ’s Indooroopilly Mine had its carpark inundated and some water has entered the mineshaft.
The next update on UQ campus operations will be posted on the UQ Homepage at 12 noon tomorrow (14/3/2010).
University Security will remain on campus and may be contacted for a recorded update on conditions across the St Lucia, Ipswich and Herston campuses on 07 3365 1234. In case of emergency, Security may be contacted directly on 07 3365 3333.
Road closures and flooding
For information on road closures, flooding and public transport, please refer to the following resources:
• Brisbane City Council
• RACQ
• ABC Local Radio
• Bureau of Meteorology
• Queensland Government Traffic and Travel Information
• Translink
The Queensland Government has launched an appeal to help fellow Queenslanders affected by the recent floods. For details of how to donate, please visit: www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html
Media: UQ Communications, Kathy Grube, 0418 524 297, Jan King (07 3202 7413) or Fiona Cameron (0407 113 342)
.png?itok=WyIBAuTQ "University of Queensland Agricultural Science student Sophia Wilson, and recent graduate Salomon Sayago Mejia, welcome visitors to the Gatton Open Day 2022.")
