Greenbelt drying out after flooding
Workers at Columbus’ Greenbelt Golf Course on North Gladstone Avenue spent the early morning hours Wednesday moving equipment from a maintenance building as rising flood waters approached the structure.
Greens Superintendent Aaron Brua was working on about three hours of sleep Wednesday morning, after working with about a dozen or so other helpers to move golf carts, mowers, tractors, sprayers and other items out of the maintenance building, which is next to Haw Creek on the course. The equipment was moved to a parks operation storage building.
The crew finished at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, but Brua was surveying flood damage to the course just a few hours later.
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The creek level Tuesday night covered what he described as the “bottom section” of the course at holes 1 and 2, nearly reaching the maintenance building. The water had receded by Wednesday morning, but work will now begin on a lot of debris cleanup and repairs to bunkers with water damage.
The city-owned golf course doesn’t really close for the winter season — some people play golf there in January — but Brua said the cleanup will take probably until Friday before play can resume on the course.
He did not believe the other city-owned course, Par 3, in the 3300 block of Fairlawn Drive, was damaged by water.
Railroad deals with Noblitt Park flooding
Cranes and other equipment being used to construct a new $12 million railroad bridge near Noblitt Park were inundated with several feet of water Wednesday morning as the park was engulfed by water from the Flatrock River.
The project calls for the railroads to replace a 100-year-old bridge that runs across Flatrock River near Noblitt Park, the last piece that is needed before CSX begins running high-speed rail cars on the track from Louisville north to Indianapolis later this fall.
Equipment had been moved to the site earlier this year to begin prep work, building access roads and clearing vegetation in preparation for the bridge replacement. Louisville & Indiana is leasing use of the tracks to CSX for the high-speed rail.
Work had been delayed somewhat in March because of the amount of rain and soft ground, and high water on the Flatrock, Goldman said.
The railroad had hoped to have the project completed by the end of September. But with delays such as the weather, Goldman said it could be mid- to late October before the bridge is replaced.
I saw the sign ….
Oh, the irony — on Columbus’ Water Street and Riverside Drive, the barricades are up for high water.
Columbus has about 35 street names with the words “water,” “river,” “stream,” “lake” or “creek” as part of the name.
But few of them are on the closed-roads list for flooding, although Riverside Drive and Water Street did make Wednesday’s list.
So those who live on Lake Stream Drive (double threat), Shoreline Drive and Shoreview Court and Creekside Court and Riverside Circle can take heart — land is dry for the most part in your neighborhoods.
Oh deer, herd surrounded by water
A group of about 25 deer found themselves trapped for a short time in an open field on the northwest side of Columbus on Wednesday morning as flood water from the rising Flatrock River forced them from a nearby wooded area.
Kenny Calender of Clifford, a truck driver for PCA (the former Columbus Container), said the deer were hanging out on three or four parcels of dry ground surrounded by floodwater. Several PCA employees took photos of the herd.
“It didn’t look like they had anywhere else to go,” Calender said. “This time of year, they tend to herd up.”
By mid-morning, the deer decided to leave the field and found a way through the shallower water, looking for dry ground.
Marty Benson, assistant communications director for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said if individuals see deer in this situation, the best solution is to leave them alone. Most of the time, the deer will figure out an escape on their own, Benson said.
Heading to school
Not everyone got an e-learning day on Wednesday. Students at Columbus Christian School and Flat Rock – Hawcreek School Corp. based in Hope were in class despite the flood warnings across Bartholomew County.
Flat Rock – Hawcreek Superintendent Shawn Price said school officials discussed what to do about flood concerns Tuesday night and whether some county roads would be impassable Wednesday morning.
School officials were out on the roads at 4 a.m. Wednesday, Price said. While they found some roads with high water, all were passable, he said.
School officials made the call to hold school, and there weren’t any issues for buses, Price said.
Reports during the day Wednesday indicated county roads were improving, so Price said he wasn’t worried about the bus trips home for students.
Kendall Wildey, administrator for Columbus Christian, said the school often follows Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s lead in closings, but decided on Wednesday to have school.
Four Columbus Christian students who use BCSC transportation to get to school were excused because of BCSC’s closing, Wildey said. Many families bring their students to school by car, and having a two-hour delay often complicates a family’s schedule more than going to school on time, he said.
Columbus Christian is in the process of adding eLearning to its curriculum and hopes to have it in place next year, Wildey said. If the school had called off classes Wednesday, it would have had to add a day to the school year to meet state requirements, he said.
