Metre of water washes through Pump House
by Cameron Outridge
Nambour Pump House is facing a major rebuild after floodwaters caused extensive damage to their Mathew Street premises.
Sales representative Nick Fitzgerald said floodwaters reached heights between one and 1.5 metres inside the store, forcing staff to discard hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of irrigation equipment due to potential bacterial contamination. “We had about a metre to a metre and a half of water come through here on Monday,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “The old owner said he saw similar flooding in 1983, at about 1.2 metres, but even in the floods of 2011 the water didn’t reach the store ramp. This hasn’t happened before in recent memory.”
The scale of damage means the Pump House will remain closed for four to six weeks as repairs are carried out.
“We’ve just pretty much ripped the shop apart. Everything’s come out. And the clean-up will be continuing. The premises will be ripped to bits. The roof’s leaked. So the whole way around the shop, one layer of plasterboard will have to come off. We have cleaners coming in to clean it and dry it. Then we’ll have the builder come back in, plaster back up and paint it. The light circuits are just hanging on according to our in-house electricians.”
Despite the setbacks, the team has quickly established plans to open a temporary Pump House pop-up store next door from Monday March 17, allowing retail and service operations to continue.
“That will be our retail back up. We’re going to get our service department running as of Monday as well.
“We’ve got a plan,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “Everyone here has been great. We’ve got electricians sweeping floors and sales staff breaking up desks and loading up trailers. We’ve kept our other branches operating as usual, but the local Nambour guys have been amazing.”
Although grateful for community offers, the Pump House team had to decline volunteer assistance due to health risks.
“We’ve had groups offer help, but unfortunately we had to say no because it’s a health hazard,” he said. “There are hundreds of thousands worth of gear we just can’t use anymore. It’s done. We just need everyone to support us once we’re up and running again. Come and see us from everything, from big pumps, little pumps, hose fittings, pipe fittings.”
• The Pump House is in Mathew Street Nambour.
Sales representative Nick Fitzgerald and branch manager Adam Richards with staff at Nambour Pump House.
Staff turned out in force for the cleanup.