“It is total devastation” as Welsh golf club hit by flooding

A golf club in Swansea faces a major clean-up operation after local flooding left parts of the course under seven feet of water.

It is the second time Mond Valley Golf Club has experienced flooding in the last three years, after Storm Lee hit the area this week.

The clean-up bill is expected to be around £30,000.

“It is total devastation here,” said club chairman Adrian Jones.

“We’ve worked so hard to rebuild the club after it was flooded in 2020.

“We could see the water coming over the gully and onto the golf course, and we were hoping it wouldn’t come into the club.

“But coming here and seeing the damage to the club itself was totally devastating.”

Alongside the course, the flood also damaged storage rooms, changing rooms, the pro shop and the basement.

“We’ll have to replace and repair the flooring, the lockers, loss of barrelage and alcohol, the clothing stock,” he said.

“There’s hundreds of pounds worth of equipment that’s been damaged that will need to be replaced, like golf clubs and trolleys.

“The electric ones cost hundreds of pounds each and they’ll all need to be replaced.

“It cost us £25,000 in 2020, and I think it’ll cost us around £30,000 this time with the cost of inflation.”

He added that it was “too early to tell” when the club will reopen, and it will remain closed until they know the full extent of the damage.

“It’s a big loss of earnings for this time of year where we normally make a lot of money before the winter,” the chairman said. “We’re just devastated.”

In 2020, the golf club was flooded after Storm Brendan hit Wales, but before that it had not been affected by flooding since 2000.

Jones added that because the golf club is on a flood plain, it cannot get contents insurance to cover flooding.

“People have been offering their services already which is a big help for us, but we’re just devastated coming in this morning to see the true extent of the damage. It’ll cost a small fortune to repair.”

David Waghorn, the club’s president said: “It just came suddenly and out of nowhere. At around 10.30 in the morning [September 20] everything was fine, but by lunch time the pitches, beer garden, the gym and changing rooms were all flooded.

“The playing fields were submerged under six to seven feet of water. We had a steel storage container which was floating.

“I don’t remember anything like this. It was like a tsunami coming in.

“It was devastating. When you see the hard work that’s put into it, all done by volunteers, it’s heartbreaking,” he said.