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Mother Nature, Please Leave the Brats at
Home
By Kevin Snelgrove
In 2003 Mother Nature stepped on the toes of the VaHPA over and over.
Many tournaments had rain delays or cancellations. The rains and the
threat of rains kept many pitchers away, those that stayed fought back
with sponges and umbrellas.
Heading into another soggy weekend of horseshoe pitching, Mother Nature
decided to send her daughter Isabel for one last good drenching of the
year.
Hitting the tidewater area first on Thursday September 18th she bent,
twisted and uprooted the landscape around Chesapeake. Power and phone
service was knocked out for more than a week. Kirk Adams, president of
the Chesapeake Club contacted me on Tuesday via his cell phone that he
had managed to get charged up by a neighbor’s generator. He reported
“The courts took a beating. A lot of the pines lost their tops
and a few trees have been pushed over. The courts are covered in
debris. It will take us weeks to clean up the mess! Only one court
suffered damage as one of the trunks fell and broke up the concrete
runway a bit.”
Pat and I attended the Frost Bite Open nearly 2 months later, and on
the way to Chesapeake, we could still see evidence of the damage the
storm caused. Numerous trees on their sides and many root balls lined
the highways. Kirk and crew had the courts cleaned up by then, but it
took enormous effort to get it done. The damage to one of the runways
was evident and a few trees had a lean to them.
The next stop for Isabel was the Richmond area. Carl Otto reported
numerous trees had fallen in the area of the courts. The big
shade tree was spared any major damage, but a few large branches and
trunks damaged some of the fencing. As of February 7, the repairs to
the fence have been made and he reports they should be in great shape
for 2004.
Isabel didn’t stop there, she had her sights on the Valley. Throwing
nearly 24 inches of rain, 4 miles downstream from the Stuarts Draft
courts, the flooding created by the storm was enormous. Here, we were
spared the brunt of it. Friday morning, after surveying the damage to
my own property, I went over to the courts a ¼ mile away. As
expected, runoff from the hill was still draining into the courts, and
they were a bit submerged. The culvert nearby was full of water, but
not quite overflowing. Our club members gathered and started bailing
and sponging. We were determined to hold our scheduled event on
Saturday. Having sopped out as much water as possible, the courts were
left open overnight, and on Saturday morning you could not have planned
for such perfect clay. Pitchers had to watch where they stepped between
runways, standing water in places was ankle deep…but because our clay
was well tamped before the storm, it was in outstanding condition that
day! What a pleasant surprise it was, not to find soup in the
pits! The Fall Finals was held as if nothing had happened. (
See photos and story)
The runoff and culverts from Stuarts Draft, and the surge of water from
the mountains dump into the South River. The river winds its way
through downtown Waynesboro, which was under water, and with more
tributaries, continues on to Grottoes, where it covered the horseshoe
courts and most of the entire park!
Rosette Cupp reported, “The water rose 3 feet up the building, but
because our clay was tamped down in the courts, we didn't lose any!!
The pile of clay behind the shack was overgrown with honeysuckle, and
it also was spared. I guess we'll just leave the growth on that pile!”
It took Mike and Rosette a few days to clean out the shack. “We had 2
inches of sludge to scoop out, so we took everything out, and turned
loose the water hose. We had some stuff to take to the dump, but all in
all, we faired very well. We found every piece of plywood!”
FEMA will take care of the repairs to the fencing this March and the
Club is responsible for the repairs to two of the courts and some minor
electrical damage. If all goes well, the courts will be in great shape
for the 2004 season.
Mother Nature, you are cordially invited to attend
every one of our events, provided
you bring your daughter Sunshine and your son Gentle Breeze,
but
please leave the rest of the brats home!
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