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Show By Jock Wallis 'LsTxV I Flood control volunteers When "Mother Nature" goes on the rampage there isn't much that can be done to stop her. We have been warned warn-ed for months that this spring we could experience record flooding. Preparations Prepara-tions have been made by individuals living in known floodplains and efforts have been made to strengthen areas thought to be susceptible to flood damage. But when it comes right down to it, no one knows for sure when and where and how much flooding will occur. It may be a passing thing, and then again it could develop into a major disaster. Already most older residents say this flood along Ashley Creek is the largest they have seen. Even with all the forewarning and preparations the floodwaters still outmaneuver those in charge of doing the best they can to prevent excessive property damages. One of the best defenses against property pro-perty damages resulting from flooding is the response of the volunteer sand-baggers. sand-baggers. When a call goes out for help the local spirit of helping each other is overwhelming. When everything has been done that can be done to control con-trol the flood waters and suddenly a channel changes or a creek goes over its banks the volunteer sandbaggers are a valuable help for the last minute flood control situations. We salute all those who have responded during the past week in helping others with flood control measures. Knowing that other people care and will respond in times of need is a great comfort. Singlehanded flood work is impossible, but when hundreds of hands join in to help the impossible becomes possible. Even though the flood threat is still not over we hope that with organized sandbagging efforts of volunteers that the personal property losses can be minimized. The cleanup after the flooding will also be a burden to property owners and public entities. Some areas will probably never be the same. Others can be restored to pre-flood conditions. After all the stress our roads and bridges have had during the past few years due to public utility construction it seems sad that now we have flood damages to contend with. Maybe we are not supposed to have good roads anymore. The costs to canal companies, improvement im-provement districts, farmers, homeowners, city and county will be great but it is something we have no control over. Hopefully the flooding will soon subside and we can get back to normal. 1983 will be a year to remember along the Colorado River system. It was the year of too much water. Imagine Im-agine that, too much water. It was a year in which all the Colorado River's man-made reservoirs filled and overflowed. It was the year of flooding, the very thing these dams and reservoirs reser-voirs were built to control. If all the projects along the Colorado and its tributaries cannot control it then who can? 1983 is the year we have needed in the first and second driest states in the nation. But the Colorado can still get out of its banks when all the spring runoff comes from an exceptionally large snow pack during the hot early summer days. About all we can do is to be careful and not let development take place in the natural floodplains of rivers and streams. After years and years of normal nor-mal runoff we forget that we still have potential flood areas. The government makes studies that classify land according to flood history. It classifies land into 100 year floodplain areas. No one wants their property classified into a 100-year floodplain, but after the flooding of 1983 we are afraid more respect will be given to floodplain studies, and they should be. Building should be discouraged in floodplain areas. The natural channels of streams and rivers are usually the ones flood waters revert to even though they may have been changed or diverted. Hopefully 1983 will be a year of experience ex-perience as well as financial loss and we can prevent additional losses in the years to come if another high water year should reoccur. But this is the irony in predicting flood dangers. This experience may never again repeat itself, and again it may repeat itself next year, who knows? |