Need some cleanup advice (Isaac) Cancel The title field is required!

1. James Smith

   

   113 posts
   
   9/2/2012 4:09 PM

   Just when I thought I had seen just about everything. Isaac moved through my hometown and where my club is located this last week. My course went about 90% under water on Wednesday night. I also live a mile away and saw my street flooded for the first time since I moved into the neighborhood in 78" . I personally did not receive any damages to my house and that is to be thankful for (my house is the highest in the neighborhood) . I am reliving the nightmare of Katrina floods that most of New Orleans and the surrounding areas took exactly seven years ago to the day. I cannot drive down any streets without seeing almost every bodies possessions and debris sitting along the side of the street.
   We will survive but now my attention has to go back to my course. Thursday my assisstant and another crew member as well as myself cleaned the greens off. We had to paddle a boat to two greens and three was still under water for another two days. My course is currently 50% under water with anywhere from 1' to 5' deep. This may take another week to go out. Every irrigation control box went under water. Luckily my control panel to my pump station was 2" higher then the flood peak. We got power today but I have yet to start the system. I am scared that pressure on the lines may cause blowouts where the system is under water. I would still have to go through 3' of water to get to the building. My shop took 1' of water and my older storage building took 18" of water. We lost every work cart due to the depth of the flood and I am sure we will find many things that is ruined. Thankfully we only had 3-4 trees get uprooted. It appears my crew faired pretty well also so I will have them in tomorrow to start the cleanup process. I have already told my board members as well as our membership to expect 9 holes open by the following Tuesday. These people have lost almost everything and will need a place to get away from the frustrations of the construction.
   This is not my first rodeo as many on here know from the Katrina journal post I had done after she pushed through. The cleanup will go along alright and I have a good handle on what the insurance company will need.
   My biggest issue is that since I am the only true manager left with over 1 years experience (17) I am going to be expected to head up all work including our clubhouse which was damaged due to 1) a break in on Tuesday night which left a window open with strong winds and rain coming in 2) our patio cover was ripped off the back of the building and a support beam was shoved through the roof 3) the patio cover which was blown over the club caught a condenser unit on the roof and ripped another hole in it, all of these left a few inches of standing water on our floor and walls. Luckily our golf shop only had a little water that was blown under the door so we were able to start moving our club office into the golf shop where the pro and office manager will share an office for a few months.
   
   I could use advice on the flooded areas of my course. Since this was not a roaring flood much like most people see ( tidal flood) we do not have the silt issues but it is very possible that the water may have salt in it. We do not have a lot of money and our income is getting ready to drop off due to the flood on our members houses. I am thinking that I should arifye the areas once they dry out to help them breath a little. The waters will be there for at least a week total. I hope to have the course cleaned in 2-3 weeks tops. Since we were so high and never even got close to flooding in 51 years we did not carry flood insurance.
   
   For you older Supers out there, how many of these disasters can you go through before you want to give it all up. I think I am on my 5th or 6th now and while I always carry a can-do attitudes well as a get r done motto I just wonder how many more I have in me! Do not get me wrong I love what I do and enjoy the challenge but this is starting to get old.

   
   
   
   
2. Rosenthal Gregg

   
   9/2/2012 4:09 PM

   Sounds to me like you have the ideology of what needs doing under control. I would only say to you that my prayers and thoughts are with you completely!!! We here in North side of Chicago were hoping for a little rain and got none...just windy and cloudy for a few days...I shall definitely say special prayer for you this Shabbas and all those who suffered from the hurricane damage it brought!
   
   Gregg

   
   
   
   
3. McCallum David K

   
   9/3/2012 9:09 AM

   No flooding here Randy and sorry for yours. I know the course and can't imagine it being 5' underwater. I would definitely stay away from cranking up water until it has all receeded. Hard to know what is 1 foot or so underwater without being able to visually see it. Good luck and if I can help anyway feel free to call or email. We baleing hay in fairways this morning and will be mowing again the next 2 oe 3 days in a row to get them back to where they were on our last mowing on Monday before the storm. Glad your home fared ok as well.

   
   
   
   
4. Douglas Eggert

   

   1 posts
   
   9/3/2012 10:09 AM

   We flood here at my place and I talked to Kathy at Boardtronics, and they recommend before you power up your satellites is to wash the mud and grime out of them, yes more water...clean water and then find a good electronics cleaner that displaces the water after you air dry your controllers. Soak the snot out of them.
   
   Worked for me. 16 seasons, 10 floods, 1 lost controller due to flooding.
   
   Turn them all off and turn them back on 1 at a time, that way you can find out if you have any 120 vac problems. Transformers are slow to go, buy and extra and have it ready.
   
   Be as methodical as possible on the cleaning and drying. You may have to take the boards out and clean them. If cleaning with clean water isn't enough, a kitchen dish cleaner has worked for me. As long as the power was off before any water intrusion you'll be surprised how durable the components are.
   
   Good luck.

   
   
   
   
5. James Smith

   

   113 posts
   
   9/3/2012 7:09 PM

   Thanks for the help. We pulled them all out today and blew them out with air to start with. It may be a while until I can try them out due to the standing water around them and my main supply. I will get the spray and hit them too. Did you pull out everything from the box and clean it all ( like transformer, rear circuit boards) ?
   We did find 7 dead carts from our new fleet today. Already stripping wood floors and carpet from club house. I think I finally get the meaning " Labor Day"

   
   
   
   
6. Justin Murray

   

   0 posts
   
   9/4/2012 7:09 AM

   Randy, we are in our cleanup mode from Isaac as well. We had 10 holes go under water and 5 greens go completely under. We sit along the Tchefuncta river just north of Madisonville and had water higher than ever. I'm guessing 10'-12' of water during peak storm surge. In my 11 years at the club this is probably the 12th-13th time we have endured flooding from a storm. We have to pump out water for 4-5 days to get it all out. We have holes that sit underwater(4'-6') during that time, some more than others, but the 419 and other Bermuda does fine once it drys out and gets some sunlight on it. Today we are able to get equipment to our last three greens that went under. We started pumping water on Saturday afternoon, 8'' and 6" rental pumps along with our 16'' diesel pump. Yesterday, we had our 16'' electric drainage pump and control panel checked out and got it going, it went underwater for a few hours during the peak of the storm. Should have it all out by tomorrow. The biggest issue that we have is the debris line that forms on the north side of the water once the water starts moving out. Plus the smell is something that I guess I've gotten use to. If I can help you out in anyway, call or email me.

   
   
   
   
7. Douglas Eggert

   

   1 posts
   
   9/4/2012 8:09 AM

   We did disconnect the boards from the controllers and tweaked them out without undoing the wires and cleaned the backs of the circuit boards.
   
   I know it will take a while, i only have 3 that regularly get heavy flooding, but you'll probably wind up doing them all.
   
   I was told the biggest problem is the silt that forms a layer on the boards is what short circuits them.
   
   Good Luck.

   
   
   
   
8. James Smith

   

   113 posts
   
   9/4/2012 2:09 PM

   What has made this cleanup worse then any other for me is the fact that I have to keep my crew cleaning up the course while also demoing the clubhouse and golf shop office areas. On top of that I also have to track everything for the insurance claim if we are able to make one. Holes in the club caused the damages but I am sure they will try to tell us it was flood damages. We do not have flood insurance so we get nothing if they try to push it. The course is starting to look better, I was able to cut Greens, Tees and some fairways today. Hope to finish them tomorrow. Maybe be back open this weekend if we can get a new control panel for our sewage lift station.
   
   Thanks for the info guys.