Waterfall Gully café forced to close because of landslide risk
The Waterfall Gully café in the Adelaide foothill has been forced to close because of fears of a possible landslide.
The landlord of the Utopia café premises, the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) ordered the closure because the hotel is sitting in an area affected by recent torrential rain and flooding.
This came after an initial landslide damaged the office and storage areas but left the restaurant and kitchen areas intact.
Although one engineer gave the premises the all-clear, another engineer overturned that assessment,
Kelly Markos, who holds the 20-year lease on the Utopia @ Waterfall Gully venue with husband Justin, said it was extraordinary the couple had hardly been given any notice.
“It’s been horrific — and we’re only just coping because of the generosity of our staff, some who are working for nothing to see us through,” Ms Markos told the Adelaide Advertiser.
“We’ve been up for three days with hardly any sleep doing everything we can from our end.
“We understand the safety concerns but the Government’s attitude has been so callous.”
She said calls to the department had gone nowhere. There had been no offer of assistance.
“I begged them for help and told them we needed a truck and a refrigeration truck to vacate and they rang back and basically said get your own,” Ms Markos said.
“We aren’t asking for charity just some acknowledgment and support from our own government.
“With the floods we’ve had no income for three weeks and we have 10 fulltime staff to pay.”
“So much for sympathy, we didn’t even receive a phone call from them (DEWNR) with the first lot of flooding (two weeks ago) to see if we were still alive … we literally just got our staff out before the floods took the roads out,” Ms Markos added.
“The lack of interest in us as their client has been extremely difficult to understand. I was devastated Friday night — but now I’m angry.
As a result of the closure, four weddings booked for this week have been relocated to Glanville Hill.
by Leon Gettler, October 10th 2016
