And the Rain Came!

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The rain on Thursday and Friday caused the river to overflow and the campground flooded. This is not an uncommon event here. There is a natural sandbar that blocks the river. It is against the law to break the sandbar and only Mother Nature can do that. Friday afternoon the marsh was flooded. About 9 am, one of our host neighbors knocked on our door. He had already closed up his fifth wheel and his site was under about 6 inches of water. A few minutes later I went with Mike another host in his cart to survey the situation. The road was clear, but there was a lot of water in the campground. About 1 hour later we got the word to evacuate. The water was about 100 feet from our site, which is one of the highest sites. We packed up and left. The road was now under about 8 inches of water.

We are staying at the San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura, about 5 miles north , which is day use only and not subject to flooding. There is a wide path which is used as temporary host hookups when there is flooding at McGrath. We don’t know how long we will be here. Our Ranger boss, Jill told is not to move back until she tells. It seems that there is a hit list of parks that will close because of budget cuts, but she has not seen it. Because this is a high maintenance park with the flooding in winter, it may close. Jill hopes that the state will wait until Labor Day to close since the park is heavily booked this spring and summer. The California State parks are one of the few revenue generators that state has, but unfortunately like most government parks, all revenue goes to the General Fund and the parks don’t get to keep it. There are about 150 sites at $35 per night.

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Photos

Subject to Flooding
Hard to believe!! The sign says "Subject to Flooding"

Photo 3
The road before we left

Photo 4
The entrance Kiosk. Later when we left, the water was about 12 to 18 inches high

Photo 6
The road in the foreground

Photo 7
View from our site when we awoke

Photo 8
View from our site when we left

Photo 9
The next site to ours

Photo 10
The road out from the motorhome windshield

Photo 11
The road out.

Comments

[Lee Johnson']

Give Us A Little Of The Rain
We need rain here but not the floods. Joyce had back surgery last month...fused a couple of vertabrae....and just last week had eye surgery for a detached retina. Needless to say, I've been staying close to home nursing her. You would think the gov. would keep open the money makers but then we both know how the gov. works. Later