AUSTRALIA: Universities survive record floods

The Queensland floods that have killed at least 20 people and left tens of thousands homeless also caused tens of millions of dollars worth of damage to the University of Queensland's main campus on the Brisbane River.

As with the city of Brisbane, the university suffered the worst flooding since 1974 when the lower areas of its expansive campus went under water. As the floods receded, an estimated 1,000 tonnes of mud covered many of the roads and the floors of buildings; the campus was closed to staff and students until a big clean-up returned the site to some normality last week.

The university's human movement studies area, the main teaching and learning facility, experienced flood damage as did the support and services areas, glasshouses, a child-care centre and sporting facilities.

But by last Thursday, 3,000 summer semester students, nearly 500 first-year medical students from 11 countries and some 600 foreign students beginning English language tuition had started classes. Many thousands more students will join them when the academic year and first semester begins on 28 February.

"Because January is a university holiday for most students and many staff, the [university's] campuses were not fully populated when the floods hit," said UQ Vice-chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield.

Greenfield said the campus at Gatton, 94 kilometres west of Brisbane, was isolated for a few days but was again operating and was hosting an evacuation centre for people from the badly damaged city of Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley regions.

"Animal welfare has been a priority at UQ Gatton throughout the flood and the school of veterinary science is now an animal rescue centre for the region," Greenfield said. "But our key concern remains the welfare of students and staff because significant numbers of them live in or have families and friends living in devastated suburbs and regions.

"We are acutely aware that our colleagues and students are suffering significant personal loss and the university will offer financial and counselling support to staff and additional paid leave to those who need time to address their personal situation as a result of the floods.

He said counselling would be available to students and the university was working with the student union on options for financial assistance.

Staff from other Queensland universities, including Griffith, Southern Cross and Sunshine Coast, assisted with grounds maintenance to free UQ staff who were on 'recovery activities'. Universities from around Australia and overseas have sent offers of support.

Griffith University closed its main campus on the south bank of the Brisbane River until further notice after computer services were shut down and telecommunications were restricted. Other universities across the state suffered little or no damage although three-quarters of the big state has been declared a disaster zone.

Australia's three eastern seaboard states have suffered record floods over the past month and some towns and farming areas have experienced their second flooding since September. The floodwaters have destroyed or damaging tens of thousands of homes and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The cost of rebuilding and repairing damaged infrastructure is expected to be in the billions of dollars.

geoff.maslen@uw-news.com