In the last week, the course has received 3.25" of rain as of 10:30 a.m. Friday, October 2. Between 1-4" is currently forecast to fall on the course over the next 72 hours. To say the least, the course is very saturated. Precautions have been put into place to protect as many physical course assets as possible. Power has been turned off, irrigation components secured, golf course amenities removed and even the fan on #7 has been brought in. During the flood of January 2010, the river rose to 18.10' and the seventh green complex was under water. The current forecast and most up to date, projects the river to crest near 17 feet on Sunday. To put things in perspective, during the flood of 2010, holes 3-8 and 15-17 were all covered in water to some degree and 18 bunkers had to be renovated.
The course begins to take on water around 15 feet. That threshold is expected to be breached late Saturday. Our team is doing everything we can to protect the course and the club's assets but we cannot keep the river within its banks. If the course does flood, we will keep the membership up to date on damage and begin work as soon as possible to get back to normal. In the meantime, our team will be assessing the golf course Saturday morning and we hope to mow greens and begin bunker repairs.
The good news is that Hurricane Joaquin is projected to stay off shore with minimal impact to Richmond. Please stay safe this weekend.
Jordan Booth, CGCS
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| This graph is from 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 2. We begin to take on water at 15 feet. The most up to date forecast can be found here: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=akq&gage=RMDV2 |
