Destroyed: A canteen and shed were crushed by a fallen tree during a freak storm which hit Benalla on Saturday night. Photos: Benalla Saints Facebook
Facilities at the home of the Benalla Saints have copped the full brunt of damage from Benalla’s freak storm event on Saturday night.
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A fallen tree has crushed the club’s canteen and shed building at Benalla Showgrounds, while heavy wind has picked up two of the club’s netball sheds and thrown them against a nearby show society building.
Geoff Hill, who was announced as the new club president last week, said the club had once again been dealt a heavy blow after the flood damage at the Saints clubrooms experienced only weeks ago.
“A big tree has fallen on our canteen and shed which we use on match days as our barbecue and beer sales area,” Hill said.
“It’s also blown over the netball sheds, the storm has picked them up from where they were sitting and pushed it up against a show society shed.
“On top of the floods we had there only a few weeks ago, it’s certainly a double-whammy and when you consider how quickly the footy and netball season is approaching, it’s not an ideal start to the year.”
Hill said the club was still working through its options, but would look to have both buildings reconstructed ahead of the new Goulburn Valley League season.
Upside down: The club’s two netball shelters were picked up by the wind and pushed against a nearby building.
“Looking inside I don’t think there’s anything salvageable, it has smashed the barbecue, fridge and the bain-marie we had in there,” Hill said.
“It’s hard to tell until we can get the tree off, we’re getting in contact with the insurance agents today to determine what we need to do before we do too much, so that they can come and inspect it and assess the damage.
“The intention is that we’re hopefully covered by insurance and maybe we’ll get some council support, but we’ll certainly be looking at redoing both buildings.”
But with the Saints’ new season due to get under way against Seymour on April 8, Hill said time was of the essence.
“The question is on the time factor and whether we’ll be able to get them completed before the start of the footy and netball season in April,” Hill said.
“We’ve got grant money from the floods that went through the clubrooms to replace the flooring in that, we are in the process of doing that, it’s all going to come down to timing now and whether we can get them ready before the new season.”
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