Rhodes Park and Thames Pony Club were underwater on Ngati Maru Highway south of Thames in the early hours of February 14 after flood waters came over the Kauaeranga River spillway during Cyclone Gabrielle.
Thames Pony Club president Katherine Forsyth said the club had experienced flooding “unlike we’ve had for many years” after club grounds on the south side of the stopbanks were flooded, which is usually a safe area for members’ horses and ponies during a storm warning.
“We did actually have to rescue some horses at 4am,” she said.
“There were seven horses on the stopbank overnight and we had already moved some of the others to other grazing.”
Katherine said there was a “big repair job” ahead for the club.
The club held a working bee on Saturday, with members helping to fix fencing and get the grounds back in working order after the floods.
“All the horses that have gone to other grazing, they’ll need to stay there for quite some time,” she said.
Meanwhile, Thames Rugby and Sports Club (TRSC) president Steve Gooder told The Profile the flooding damaged the clubrooms.
“[The water was] up above a metre through the clubrooms, up on the higher part of the clubrooms where it’s never been before,” he said.
“We’ll just get it cleaned up, hose all the silt out from inside and hopefully it dries and hopefully we don’t get anymore rain.”
The TRSC committee held a working bee at its clubrooms on Saturday to clear the damage left by the floodwaters with the help of its members, netball and rugby players, coaches and the Thames Junior Rugby Club.
The committee said while there still needed to be work done with professional and financial assistance, the club was one step closer to getting the club up and running for the start of the season.
