Flooding Closes New Tourism Office (Rob says "Meh")

From a reader:

Regarding the recent TimesDaily article regarding the tourism office, McFarland Park, and the inevitable flooding that will impact this building for years, and years, and years to come. Data (or facts produced by scientists) from the National Weather service hydrology pages shows the following chart of historical "floods" in McFarland park. Keep in mind flood stage is 18 feet in the park. The water this week was around 22 feet, and has caused the tourism office to CLOSE.

* Recent Crests
(1) 21.55 ft on 07/12/2013
(2) 21.74 ft on 05/08/2013
(3) 22.18 ft on 01/18/2013
(4) 18.40 ft on 01/30/2012
(5) 18.30 ft on 09/07/2011
(6) 20.90 ft on 04/29/2011
(7) 22.00 ft on 03/12/2011
(8) 21.21 ft on 05/03/2010
(9) 19.74 ft on 02/10/2010
(10) 19.18 ft on 01/28/2010
(11) 18.08 ft on 12/15/2009
(12) 19.34 ft on 12/13/2009
(13) 22.43 ft on 05/08/2009
(14) 20.24 ft on 05/04/2009
(15) 19.64 ft on 01/11/2009
(16) 18.42 ft on 12/13/2008
(17) 25.98 ft on 12/10/2004
(18) 20.58 ft on 12/01/2004
(19) 19.07 ft on 11/26/2004
(20) 18.80 ft on 09/22/2004
(21) 20.75 ft on 09/20/2004
(22) 20.01 ft on 09/19/2004
(23) 20.53 ft on 09/19/2004
(24) 20.44 ft on 02/09/2004
(25) 25.53 ft on 05/07/2003
(26) 21.94 ft on 02/18/2003
(27) 19.16 ft on 02/19/2001 (P)
(28) 20.40 ft on 04/22/1998
(29) 21.50 ft on 03/03/1998
(30) 25.53 ft on 03/28/1994
(31) 20.83 ft on 03/27/1993
(32) 25.12 ft on 12/03/1991
(33) 27.58 ft on 12/23/1990
(34) 21.91 ft on 11/02/1989
(35) 23.81 ft on 05/04/1984
(36) 24.83 ft on 03/22/1980
(37) 20.21 ft on 03/06/1979
(38) 30.03 ft on 03/17/1973
(39) 20.82 ft on 01/10/1968
(40) 24.60 ft on 03/30/1965
(41) 28.00 ft on 02/13/1948
(42) 25.10 ft on 03/20/1899
(43) 32.50 ft on 03/19/1897

According to the Times Daily Article and board member Abramson:

"Members of the Florence-Lauderdale tourism staff are working from the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, according to tourism board member David Abramson, who has been closely monitoring the park flooding situation.

“(The board) will be meeting after things return to normal and discuss a plan for this kind of thing happening in the future,” Abramson said. “This was totally unexpected. We haven’t had this kind of flooding since the early 1970s.* That building was built three feet above flood stage, and I don’t regret building it there. It’s a beautiful facility, and there’s much more traffic in that location. But we do have to get a plan.”

So 3 feet above flood stage would be 21 Feet, because the flood stage is 18 feet. Keep in mind this is for the BUILDING, NOT THE PARKING LOT! So if you cant park your car, you have to close the building anyways! THIS BUILDING WILL COST THE TAXPAYERS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN THE LONG AND SHORT RUN! Look how many times the water has crested to 21 feet in the past. Even at flood stage they will be dealing with significant issues.

Another thing: Florence-Lauderdale Tourism President Rob Carnegie said he’s been pleased with the city’s handling of the situation.

“We’re seeing now that we need a plan to mitigate this kind of thing from happening in the future,” he said. “We’ll get a plan in place, looking at best practices and how other facilities along the river address this issue.”

This building is certainly not Carnegie's fault as he wasn't around when it was built, but the plan to mitigate this WAS TO NOT BUILD A MILLION DOLLAR FACILITY IN A FLOOD ZONE! The park IS the mitigation! That's why its a park! It floods!

*****

As everyone knows, Shoalanda herself is around 104 years old. She remembers when the undeveloped McFarland Bottom regularly flooded. Then the city decided to construct a golf course there. Guess what? It regularly flooded. Who knew? Not the city apparently; however, Florence was more than willing to use flooding as an excuse to build still another golf course.

Now the new tourism office is up cripple creek without a mop. And David Abramson doesn't seem to be able to read flooding statistics... But maybe Robbie Baby will yodel for us while wearing his Canadian Mountie hat?

Shoalanda