King George V Park, the new $3.5 million FieldTurf facility in east end St. John's, resembled nearby Quidi Vidi Lake as Saturday evening's heavy rain flooded the city's premiere soccer pitch.
By Sunday morning, the waters had receded, but left in their wake was considerable damage to the synthetic surface facility.
"There's a lot of work to do," said Newfoundland Soccer Association president Doug Redmond of St. John's. "We don't know what damage has been done under the FieldTurf. We may be looking at work being done to the whole field."
The city was hit by 97.5 millimetres of rain Saturday. Strangely enough, a game involving the Canada Games girls team had completed at 6 p.m. and at that time, the facility was holding up fine. At 7:30 p.m., Redmond received a call from an area resident informing him water was building up on the field, its drainage facility overwhelmed by the rainfall.
By 7:45 p.m., there was, according to Redmond, 18 inches of water buildup on the entire facility. A "good portion" of the field, said Redmond, bubbled, making for island-like images 10 feet in diameter.
When all was said and done Sunday morning, the turf in some parts had shifted, while other areas showed a height difference as much as six inches.
"We can't say for certain how much damage is done and how much it will cost," Redmond said. "We'll be calling the FieldTurf people first thing Monday morning and then we'll be calling the insurance company.
"We hope the insurance will cover it."
rshort@thetelegram.com
The pitch became a pool in just two hours
Newfoundland Soccer Association president Doug Redmond stands in front of the flooded pitch at the King George V Park in St. John's Saturday night. Heavy rain Saturday did significant damage to the facility's synthetic surface. By Sunday morning, most of
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- Published on December 1st, 2008
- Published on June 30th, 2010
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Robin Short
Telegram Sports Editor
King George V Park damaged by Saturday's deluge
King George V Park, the new $3.5 million FieldTurf facility in east end St. John's, resembled nearby Quidi Vidi Lake as Saturday evening's heavy rain flooded the city's premiere soccer pitch.
By Sunday morning, the waters had receded, but left in their wake was considerable damage to the synthetic surface facility.
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- Don
- - July 2nd, 2010 at 13:32:39
Why don't we wait to see if the insurance does its job, before we start whining about past decisions? Several tax payers including myself, are very proud of this facility and wish we had more like it, in such high profile picturesque locations. Last month, that park hosted the BMO Cup and for most of the visiting athletes King George V Park is one of the memories they may return one day to visit. Sports tourism is great for the economy and that park, in that location is the envy of many other Cities. Let's let the insurance people do their job and take care of that beautiful facility, for us all.
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- ask
- - July 2nd, 2010 at 13:25:46
This potential issue was raised prior to the renovations... With the cost of such a project, why would the field exist in an area known for possible flooding.
Lesson learned... too bad it is going to cost us, the tax payers to fix this. -
- Tim
- - July 2nd, 2010 at 13:08:25
This is not the first time that I have seen this problem. My school researched Turf two years ago and found that the FieldTurf brand of turf requires a mixture of over 50% of sand under crushed rubber tires. This sand compacts under the weight the rubber, field, and people and becomes soild, thus not allowing water to drain through.
I persaonally spoke to several schools that had this problem and very few of them had it fixed.
Also, the insurance that you are speaking about from FieldTurf is in their name, not King Georges. It will be up to them if they want to submit it to their insurance company. If you look at their website you will see that FieldTurf brags about NEVER having an insurance claim, that make me think that it is going to be a long time before we get back on this field that WE paid for. -
- Don
- - July 1st, 2010 at 20:21:35
Why don't we wait to see if the insurance does its job, before we start whining about past decisions? Several tax payers including myself, are very proud of this facility and wish we had more like it, in such high profile picturesque locations. Last month, that park hosted the BMO Cup and for most of the visiting athletes King George V Park is one of the memories they may return one day to visit. Sports tourism is great for the economy and that park, in that location is the envy of many other Cities. Let's let the insurance people do their job and take care of that beautiful facility, for us all.
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- ask
- - July 1st, 2010 at 20:12:17
This potential issue was raised prior to the renovations... With the cost of such a project, why would the field exist in an area known for possible flooding.
Lesson learned... too bad it is going to cost us, the tax payers to fix this. -
- Tim
- - July 1st, 2010 at 19:43:12
This is not the first time that I have seen this problem. My school researched Turf two years ago and found that the FieldTurf brand of turf requires a mixture of over 50% of sand under crushed rubber tires. This sand compacts under the weight the rubber, field, and people and becomes soild, thus not allowing water to drain through.
I persaonally spoke to several schools that had this problem and very few of them had it fixed.
Also, the insurance that you are speaking about from FieldTurf is in their name, not King Georges. It will be up to them if they want to submit it to their insurance company. If you look at their website you will see that FieldTurf brags about NEVER having an insurance claim, that make me think that it is going to be a long time before we get back on this field that WE paid for.
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