Dear Staff,
After an anxious 24 hours, it appears that the worst of the extraordinary rain has passed. However, the Queensland Government has indicated that the threat of further flooding still remains, and storms are forecast for Wednesday.
In addition, there is significant flooding and damage to many of UQ’s locations. As a result, all UQ sites in South East Queensland (SEQ) will remain closed on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 March 2022.
The extended closure will hopefully allow the floodwaters to recede and our crews on site to assess the scale of the damage and the extent of the clean-up operation before we can safely reopen our campuses and sites to staff and students.
Safety first
The safety of our community is paramount. Therefore, access to UQ locations is restricted to authorised staff and emergency services only. There are a number of areas at the St Lucia campus around Glasshouse Road and parts of the Gatton campus that are exclusion zones.
If you are not authorised, you must not attend UQ locations in SEQ until we reopen. People who attend our locations are endangering their own safety and the safety of others.
Status update
While there is significant damage to facilities and infrastructure, I am very pleased to say that our staff, students and animals at UQ locations are safe. This is thanks to the amazing and courageous work of our authorised staff working on the ground.
Teaching
All teaching (online and in-person) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is cancelled. We are waiting to understand the scale of damage at campuses before making a decision on teaching for the rest of the week.
Once we get through the next few days, we can start to understand the impact the cancellation of classes will have on the teaching and assessment schedule for this semester.
Students
Our student support team is working with students who have been displaced, need temporary accommodation or access to food and essential items.
Staff working arrangements
All staff should work remotely where possible.
I understand that some staff have been directly impacted by flooding, power outages or caring for family members and cannot work. Please notify your supervisor/manager so arrangements can be put in place to manage your work. You don’t need to book personal leave for these days.
Casual staff who were rostered to work during the three-day closure will be paid for these hours.
The University also has community service leave for staff to engage in a voluntary emergency management activity.
Research
We will remain on level 3 restrictions for critical research activities. Research staff undertaking this work must not enter areas that are flooded, have damaged infrastructure or where there is a risk to safety.
Events
All events at UQ locations for this week are also cancelled. I would ask all event organisers to notify their guests or organisations as soon as possible.
The coming days will be challenging as we start to understand the extent of the damage and clean up needed in our homes, communities and at the University.
Please continue to reach out to your supervisor/manager and HR (askhr@uq.edu.au) to let them know what support you need. Our Employee Assistance Program is also available to staff.
The Queensland Government and local councils will provide updates over the coming days, and I would encourage staff to monitor them.
Thank you again for your resilience in responding to these challenges. I will provide an update to our staff and students again tomorrow.
Stay safe.
With best wishes,
Debbie
