Last Minute Preparations Made for Rising Waters

The imminent closing of the marina has brought lots of last minute preparations to Sunset.  Monday evening there were still seven boats left in the front parking lot (*1); by this afternoon there was one left and I’m told that one’s going in tomorrow.  The back lot (*2) still has about 20 left in it, but about half of those are on trailers.  The crew at the marina says, that with few exceptions, they should all be in by Friday.  A couple of the boat owners were there today getting the finishing touches applied to their babies.  Elsewhere in the marina other signs of  “packing up the sidewalks” could be seen, such as taking down the fences from around the dumpsters and gathering loose equipment.

Thursday the marina plans to sandbag the erected floodwall that runs along in front of the office building’s (*3) windows.  After Friday Sunset’s secretary, Monica, says the office will be moving to the public works building.  The phones will be transferred to there so they can be reached via the same phone number.

Sunset Park (*4) continues to get narrower as the water levels rise also.  The backwater in between the east side of the park and the interstate (*5) now stretches unbroken from the park’s south parking lots all the way to the interstate’s embankments.  About 11 a.m. today I stopped by the picnic shelter near the ball diamond (*6).  Its parking lot is blocked off but you could still walk to it with out getting wet.  The last bit of sidewalk leading up to it was wet but didn’t actually have water on it.  The water came up to the edge of the shelter itself, but sitting on its three- or four-inch foundation it was still a dry island.  Six hours later, at 5 p.m., the path was now covered with water and about 10 square feet of the shelter had water on it.  The flood's-a-come’n.

*  In case you’re not familiar with Sunset Marina’s layout I’ll try and fit the parts of the marina I mention into the aerial picture of the marina at the top of this blog.  The bottom of the picture is the west side.  Further to the west is the Mississippi, and beyond that Iowa.  (Yes, the river runs North and South here, the only place in the Quad-Cities.)

1. Front parking lot:  Above and just to the lefht of the buildings at the center, right-hand side of the picture.

2. The back lot: Just below the buildings at the center, right-hand side of the picture.

3. The office buildings: The buildings at the center, right-hand side of the picture.

4. Sunset Park: Just above the marina, left 2/3s of the picture.

5. Interstate: Runs along the top of the picture.

6. Ball diamond: In Sunset Park, just beyond the left side of the picture.

ROAD CLOSING

The river is expected to creep high enough to warrant closing the road into Sunset marina this Friday.  The marina is also planning on turning off the power to the docks on Friday.  The exact time for both of these measures has not yet been determined.

            Judging the water levels at the marina can be deceptive; the waterline at the boat lift well seems to be holding steady; however the back road and parking lot (leading to the 100 and 200 docks) are now completely covered with running water over them.  (This is the parking lot in at the bottom of the blog’s lead-in picture.)

A few boats remain dry-docked at Sunset, but most of the work on them that’s going to be done seems to have wrapped up for now.  Most—  but not all;  one or two diehard boaters were out this weekend and Monday pushing to make final preparations on their boats while they can still be launched.

Hail’s pounding just one more tic.

I checked on the marina today with a bit of trepidation considering the rains of the past couple of days, especially the pounding we got Friday night/Saturday morning.  For those of you that missed it, I was awoken about 4:00 am to the sound of bean-sized hail bouncing off the roof.  After reregistering on what it was that I was hearing I remembered I hadn’t gotten around to putting the car in the garage.  Worried about possible hail damage I dash out to remedy that.  Ten to fifteen seconds to get to the car, and a like amount of time to get from the garage to the back door:  20 to 30 seconds in the rain and I was soaked to the bone.  I had to wring my jeans out in the tub.  A rain like that practically bounces along the ground and into the storm drains to the river, especially coming on top of the earlier rains that would have saturated the ground.  However I was relieved to see that river had only ticked another inch or so higher in the preceding 24 hours, it’s typical ascent for the past several days.  Bringing home the point again that what happens locally is not as critical as what goes on to the north of us.

            The marina’s road on the far end leading to 100 and 200 docks (closed for a while now) now has running water over it, and the total amount of that back parking lot that remains dry is a section of road with room for about two cars.  Friday the guard geese were patrolling near the road's barricades, but today they were again absent.

Mississippi holding steady

The Mississippi River at Sunset Marina is holding steady -- inching up and inching down -- but primarily holding steady.

The road to the lower parking lot, behind the trees in the aerial photo, is uncovered with left debris stranded. If we're lucky, it will stay there until summer with nothing to wash it off.

Few people are working on their boats at the marina -- those who were working on their boats have them in the water and the fewer than two dozen who were gambling on the flood not getting to the parking lot are still waiting for warmer weather.

So conditions at the marina are in a limbo that may last another month.

Quarter-foot rise covers parking lot

Monday, April 4
The river has risen another quarter-foot to 16.25 and the level now is high enough to cover the 100 and 200 Dock parking lot and part of the road leading to it behind the trees in the aerial photo. The pair of geese seem happy now and when another pair started to fly in they were strongly discouraged.

In addition the road leading to the north launching ramp and the road out onto the peninsula separating Lake Potter from the Mississippi River is closed off near the entrance to the Rock Island Boat Club.

The wait begins

Saturday, April 2

The waiting begins, both for those who have boats at Sunset Marina and for the entire Quad-Cities.

It was amazing how much of the 100 and 200 Dock parking lot got covered with the about .2 of a foot rise. Since Friday the water had come up on both sides of the lot, leaving only a space as wide as a two-lane road down the middle. But the water didn't come over the road, so all the debris is being swept down the slough between the marina and Pettifer Island. And the pair of geese are back.

At 10 p.m. Saturday the water had crested at 16 feet and was expected to hold steady until Sunday then begin a slow fall, very slow. Now all anyone can do is watch the crest and the storm clouds up north in the weather report. If there are no significant rains, the crest should stay where it is before it begins to fall. If a major storm hits them, our water can come up -- possibly fast.

The fall is predicted to be excruciatingly slow, so we'll remain vulnerable until the river gets down to a lower stage.

Flooding more obvious at Sunset Marina

Friday, April 1

The water at Sunset Marina is just beginning to look like it's high. At the north end of the parking lot for the 100 and 200 docks the water is starting to move onto the pavement and the approach to the 200 Dock is covered. On the West side of the lot the water is about a dozen feet or more past the concrete parking bumpers. The pair of geese that have been patrolling the shoreline have given up and left.

When I was at the marina Friday the water was hitting 15.8 feet -- it has just .4  of a foot to go before it crests, probably Tuesday, at 16.2. It could stay that high for as long as four to six weeks. During this entire time we will be vulnerable to above normal rains that could push it high, fast.

All around Lake Potter the high water is becoming more obvious: More of the beginning of the walking path is covered, as is a section near the fuel dock for the marina; water is higher in the parking lot across the road from the east launching ramp, and about two-thirds of the north parking ramp is covered. The launching dock for the east ramp, which had been moved close enough to shore to allow a dry access, is now about two feet from the water's edge.

And the marina's parking lot -- just over a week ago covered in boats -- now has fewer than two dozen waiting to be launched and most of those aren't ready for the water yet.