Hurrican Ike, again!
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Dec. 1, 2008 - 2:58 pm
This week S&S Trails went back to Timberlane to tackle some of the larger projects that we needed to accomplish to complete the cleanup from Hurrican Ike. First on the agenda was re-benching an area along one of the drainage ditches and replacing the granite that had been washed away. The creek had backed up over the trail to a depth of 10 feet.
The next project was more interesting logistically. A LARGE bridge had washed out. We realized that the bridge was in an area that gets inundated with water whenever there is a 5 inch rain or more. There was a 20 inch rain event during the hurricane! Our bridge washed out, needless to say. Fortunately, we tethered the bridge to a tree with wire rope. The bridge was still there, with very little structural damage. We used the Ditch Witch to lift the bridge close to being in position, saving us having to find a large amount of people to help maneuver it. We then rebuilt the sill, making a platform for the bridge to slide on during the next rain event. We’re hoping this keeps it from dropping into the waterway next time and then the unit can be slid back in place with one or two people and a grip hoist.
The last large project was to install a few culverts and improve the drainage in an area that had washed out pretty badly. We put in two culverts where water has streamed out of some of the neighbors yards, added material on top and put in a few rolling grade dips.
