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Bouncing back Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Part of the $2 million restoration of Lithia Park following the 1997 flood includes new concrete walls along Calle Guanajuato behind the Plaza. The walls and a terrace allow unobstructed passage of Ashland Creek should it swell to flood stage. The New Year's Day flood of 1997 wrecked parts of downtown Ashland, but the city has rebuilt with grace and has learned from the disaster By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune If you don't know what to look for, it's hard to see where a flood raced through Ashland five years ago this week. Ashland Creek's muddy brown tide surged through Lithia Park and down the Plaza on Jan. 1, 1997. When the water finally receded, the park's gardens and lawns lay buried under tons of fine silt. Ten pedestrian bridges in the park were destroyed - some smashed to kindling, others lifted off their foundations and deposited downstream. A bridge across the creek at Winburn Way was smashed. Waist-deep muck and silt filled shops and stores along the Plaza. Five years and $2 million later, the park shows few scars to a casual observer. Lawns and gardens have been restored; play structures, trails and bridges rebuilt. A handsome new bridge spans the creek at Winburn Way, and a graceful stone wall separates the renovated lawn from the streambed. "To me, the place looks like there never was a flood here," said John Libemday of Portland, as he watched children in the playground. "I don't see any evidence of a flood." "It's gorgeous," said Jonita Hein, who recently moved to Medford from Anchorage, Alaska. The spiffy Winburn Way bridge and the park's stone wall are two of the most obvious features of Ashland's $2 million restoration effort in the park and on Calle Guanajuato, the pedestrian way along the creek downstream from the park. Engineers designed the bridge and the wall to reduce the damage to the park and historic buildings on the Plaza the next time Ashland Creek jumps its banks. The bridge has a greater volume of space beneath it for water to pass during a flood. The stone wall in the park would prevent water from running toward the Plaza if the creek rose to bank-full. The waist-high wall looks decorative, but it's been engineered with footings stout enough to survive a 100-year flood (meaning a flood of such magnitude that it has a 1-in-100 chance of happening any given year). "The footing is as deep as the wall is tall," said Paula Brown, Ashland public works director. The flood began when debris blocked the passage of rising water under Winburn Way. Logs, sticks and branches jammed against the two metal culverts that carried the creek under the street. As the water rose, it found a path of least resistance across the park lawn and down the Plaza to Water Street, where it poured over Bluebird Park and re-entered the streambed. It was the third time Ashland Creek had flooded the Plaza in 50 years, having surged through in 1948 and in 1974. Brown said the new bridge (dedicated in 1998) was designed to pass 3,100 cubic feet of water per second, the volume that engineers have calculated for Ashland Creek during a 100-year flood. Ashland Creek's volume on New Year's Day 1997 couldn't be calculated, but engineers have estimated it at about 60 to 65 percent of the flow for a 100-year flood. The stone wall terminates short of the Winburn Way bridge, but Brown said sandbags could be erected along the street to divert water if it rose above the bridge. Farther upstream, park managers looked for ways to spread the water during future floods. Several areas where the flood carried away tons of soil were left unfilled to give the water space to spread out and slow down the next time Ashland Creek rises. "Right behind the tennis courts, you can see how wide (the streambed) is right now," said Steve Gies, parks superintendent. "We gave the creek more room to move around. That was one of the things we learned from the 1974 flood." Downstream from Lithia Park, along Calle Guanajuato, the city built new concrete walls and terraces to contain the creek where the streambed narrows and the grade drops toward Water Street. "There's unobstructed passage (for water) on the Calle now," Brown said. "The water can go up the side of the left bank." Bluebird Park, the little streamside enclave of public space just downstream from the North Main Street bridge, had to be rebuilt after the flood showed Ashland residents how Water Street earned its name. Brown said massive 2-ton concrete blocks were set in a retaining wall alongside Water Street to stabilize the grade. The total cost for all the park reconstruction projects easily exceeds $2 million, said Ken Mickelsen, director of Ashland's parks and recreation department. Features such as Lithia Park's flood wall might have been built less expensively, but the City Council wanted to preserve the character of Ashland's showpiece park. Buildings along the Plaza survived the high water with relatively little apparent exterior damage, although some shifted several inches on their foundations. Others had to have structural support added after the weight of flood debris cracked floor joists. "Whole rooms were filled with mud," said Mike Broomfield, Ashland's building inspector. People who remember the park before the flood give city officials favorable marks for their work. "I think the stone wall is beautiful," said Ann Fielder of Talent. "I'm pleased with the aesthetic. "I think they've done a nice job, especially farther up the creek where it was so washed out. It looks like the new bridge has a lot more room for the creek should it swell up again. Hopefully, the Plaza will be a little better protected." "The reconstruction shows that there's a fear of (future) floods," said Jeanne Abbott, who divides her time between Ashland and Palo Alto, Calif. People who work in the stores that flooded five years ago will wait until the next flood to pass judgment on the rebuilding projects along the creek. "Just from the people I've talked to who were in this building before us, every 10 or 15 years there's a flood," said Cynthia Ross, manager of Lithia Stationers. Muck stood 43 inches deep in the store during the first week of January 1997. Ross said the store has a wooden barricade in storage that can be used as a water barrier in front of the building when the water rises again. "We're hoping we'll be more prepared," she said. "Nobody thought it would be that bad." "There's no way to know" how much water will come down Ashland Creek during the next flood, said Donna Zimmerman, owner of The Web'sters on the Plaza. "Every time there's been a flood, the conditions have been different." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.