Dupree Park awash in damages after Christmas flood

By Peg Kenyon / Editor / pkenyon@jacksonvillepatriot.com
Thursday, February 4, 2010 11:55 AM CST

Jacksonville Parks & Recreation Department director Kristen Griggs (left) and city parks maintenance manager Larry Brandt surveys the ruined wooden cabinets, which were damaged by floodwaters. Those cabinets once lined one of the concession stands located at Dupree Park.

In the aftermath of the Christmas flooding in Central Arkansas, Jacksonville Parks & Recreation Department workers continue to mop up about $25,000 in damage at Dupree Park.

“It’s the worst one I’ve seen in 20 years,” said Larry Brandt, longtime city parks manager.

Brandt estimated the water level got as high as about five feet. He also noted that the water from the Bayou Meto pushed heavy bleachers into steel posts. One of those sets of wood and metal bleachers remains suspended in air as the steel post keeps a firm grip on it.

“We are power-washing the buildings and disinfecting,” Brandt said.

At the Octagon Building inside Dupree Park, an electrical box also was destroyed by floodwaters. It was located high on the wall but not high enough. Brandt wants to relocate the breaker box even higher inside the building over a door facing in hopes of keeping it from being damaged by future floods. That building is south of the Marshall Smith playground off South Redmond Road. The replacement cost for the circuit breakers is estimated at $650.

ADVERTISEMENT

Among the tools destroyed or lost in the flood were two chainsaws with a total value of about $612, an edger valued at about $400, a $218 air compressor, a $168 vacuum sweeper and two 160-piece tool sets valued at about $75 each. Total loss at the Octagon Building was nearly $5,000.

Another preventative measure has already been completed. According to Kristen Griggs, JPRD’s director, the ruined wooden cabinets inside a concession stand were replaced with stainless steel ones. Appliances, such as freezers and refrigerators, also will need to be replaced.

“We’re in the process of purchasing those new appliances,” Griggs said.

Among the equipment damaged were two 16.5-cubic-foot refrigerators, two freezers, a hot dog cooker, a popcorn machine and nacho chip machine. All of those damaged items were located inside a concession stand at fields 2 and 3.

Also, 10 dozen softballs worth $600 were warped by the floodwaters as the Bayou Meto engulfed not only Dupree Park but also a stretch of South Redmond Road from the park’s entrance to just beyond the intersection of South James Street and Redmond.

A damaged ice machine will need about $250 in repairs. Other property losses included a $214 table, a floor fan, a microwave oven, two boxes of hot dog wrappers, one case of cups and a case of napkins. The total loss at those two fields amounted to $7,124.48.

Brandt said the major damage at the soccer field site involved the public restrooms. Partitions in both the men’s and women’s restrooms are in need of being replaced. The cost of repairing the public restrooms at the soccer site was estimated at $10,000.

Forty-eight practice vests stored at the soccer field were also lost in the flooding. Those vests were provided to youngsters who practiced soccer at this site. Total cost of replacing those vests was set at about $360, park officials say. Minor food items lost at the soccer field site included a case of hot dogs valued at about $65, candy, chips and pretzels.

Amid the ruined equipment and mud-caked structures, a silver lining did appear as to Dupree Park’s thousands of feet of chain-link fences around its ball fields. Brandt said those fences remained in good shape despite the floodwaters.

Brandt hopes this type of excessive flooding from the Bayou Meto will not become a normal occurrence. “Hopefully, this is a once in a lifetime thing,” Brandt said.

Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher explained last week that applying for disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is a rather slow process and that a neighboring city just received disaster recovery funds from an incident which took place about two years ago.