When the Flood Waters Cometh

On Monday, some of you had the delightful pleasure of participating in a minor boathouse evacuation. As the waters of the Susquehanna River rise, it can sometimes put our equipment in danger. Moving items to higher racks or higher ground is an absolute must.

The call can come in the middle of the day or the wee hours of the morning. In more extreme circumstances, the entire boathouse area must be evacuated -- port-o-potties and all. Anything not securely cemented into the ground (like the boathouse pylons) or tethered down (like the sheds) are in danger of floating away or being damaged.


As you can see from the photo above, circa Fall of 2004, the river crested at such a high level that the top racks of the boathouse were under water.











After such an event, there is a lot of clean up to be done. The shed needs to be mucked out and refilled, the boathouse has to be scraped of mud, large debris needs to be removed, the parking lot needs to be re-stoned, and the dock needs to be realigned. Add to that the rigging and placement of the boats, as well as any other odd job that pops up.