In the last two weeks, we have experienced some flooding at two of our river parks.
New River Trail State Park had flooding and accumulated ice that forced us to close Baker Island and Double Shoals primitive camping. When I last spoke with Park Manager Mark Hufeisen on January 19th, staff couldn’t even get through the ice to see the damage.
On January 26th, the Shenandoah River flooded with impact to Shenandoah River State Park. I’m glad our new facilities are up on the ridge.
As many of you may recall, I stayed at Shenandoah River State Park this summer. Here are some side by side shots showing the impact of the flood.
Nature happens. Development along the river calls for planning based on flooding history and that’s one thing we do well. The few campgrounds we have along the rivers in Virginia are designed so when they flood, we can build them back. We do not put any elaborate infrastructure within the 60 year flood plain. My favorite picture from the Shenandoah River flood this week shows one of our trails.