Staff at The University of Queensland (UQ) have begun the massive cleanup with floodwaters retreating from the St Lucia and Gatton campuses this morning.
UQ campuses at St Lucia, Ipswich and Gatton will remain closed until and including Wednesday, 19 January 2011.
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.
UQ staff are now out cleaning the mud and silt from roads, footpaths and car park areas within the campuses.
As soon as it is both safe and practical additional staff and volunteers will be brought in to assist with the cleanup.
UQ Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Keniger said UQ staff began work on clearing the roads at St Lucia early this morning.
“There is a lot of sediment that has been left behind from the floods and this will take some time to clear away,” he said.
“We have been very fortunate that we have had staff from UQ’s Property and Facilities Division come back to work and begin the cleanup as soon as the flood waters began to recede.
“We will also need to relocate some areas of The University’s services and support facilities, which were hard hit by the flood waters.”
Professor Keniger said The University is already aware that significant work will be needed to repair buildings and essentials works to roads, grounds and car parks.
The University’s sewage system is not currently operating due to power loss at the external plant. Power within the St Lucia campus is being restored sequentially and power has been reconnected to the Gatton campus.
Access to UQ’s St Lucia campus is restricted, with most access roads still closed and minimal car parking. Roads within the campus are closed and non-university vehicles will not be allowed to access the campus until the initial cleanup has been completed.
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 losses.
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
The next update on UQ campus operations will be posted on the UQ Homepage at 12 noon tomorrow (15/1/2011).
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)
