Splashin' Safari flooded

Hi kids--

Well, the pestilence didn't get us (cicadas, in case you haven't been paying attention) ... but the floods just did.

Holiday World is fine...but Splashin' Safari is under water. :(

So...the water park will not be open on Wednesday. We've got loads of clean-up to do.

Holiday World, however, will be open tomorrow. And all non-season pass admissions will receive a free ticket to return when both parks are open. (I'll update our website as new information is available.)

Please say a prayer for us ... it'll be a long night!

Paula *** Edited 5/26/2004 2:21:18 AM UTC by Raven Maven***

Damn. It's bad down by you also?

I wish you luck with the park.

Wow, I know it rained hard here, but that's a ton. Best of luck to you and your staff.

All the best at getting it cleaned up.....My parents were flooded 2 times in less than a year, both times it got their business, the second time it washed it totally away(now they work for the state and live on a mountain here in WV).

But it amazes me, Holiday World is giving a pass to all non-season pass holders because of something they can't control, when most parks don't even do minor Rain Checks. Amazes me at the quality of your customer service, and I WILL visit one day for a first hand account.

I thought even the water park was on higher ground. Shows you how much I pay attention to geography.

Hope the "business interuption" insurance kicks in for this one! Sounds so ridiculous until you need it.

We got nailed with rain here. If anyone is interested I have a snapshot of the radar from the storm on my blog. Maybe I'll grab a few pictures tomorrow between appointments.

Paul Drabek *** Edited 5/26/2004 2:40:00 AM UTC by Paul Drabek***

Hey Paul--

I thought I saw a snorkel in the flood waters -- that was you with an underwater camera, right? :)

We'll get through this...but gosh, what a mess!

Paula

Good luck with the clean up, Paula. With the waterpark closed I hope you're you don't get a torrent of complaints.

mOOSH

Paula,

Sorry, that wasn't me as I was swamped over here as well. The pond out back was overflowing, our front yard is now a lake and our street looked like Raging Rapids so I stayed put. You know it's raining hard when your gutters can't even keep up with the torrent. Hopefully the predicted t-storms for the next few days go away and stay away.

Stay Dry!

Paul Drabek

You know we're having pretty bad weather here in the Bay Area too. I mean, today it was only in the high 60s! I was freezing my shorts off.

Hopefully this crazy weather clears up. *** Edited 5/26/2004 6:05:41 AM UTC by GoliathKills***

A question about damage from someone who doesn't know much about this; surely the damage from a water park being under water is not going to be that severe given that it's clearly designed to be wet? Or am I missing something blindingly obvious?

I'm sure there wouldn't be major damage to slides or anything, but damage to food stands, restrooms, etc could be extensive. Plus, floodwaters have the potential to bring in a lot of mud and debris, meaning there's a lot of dirt to clean up.

-Nate

Thanks for the update Paula! I am keeping the park in my prayers and hope for a speedy clean-up.

-Tina *** Edited 5/26/2004 11:31:49 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

My prayers are with you and Holiday World! Hope it is nowhere near the flooding problems we have up here in northern Illinois.

Sorry to hear about the dilemna, Paula. Seems odd that the water park was hoppin' a few days ago when we were there and now its recovering from a flood. Amazing what can happen in just two days.

Best of luck with the clean-up. I'd gladly lend a hand to help you guys out, but being here in NJ makes it kinda tough!

So does it flood a lot there or is this once in a blue moon sort of thing?

Amazing what can happen in two *hours*!

To update...it was a flash flood. Some parts of Splashin' Safari were under three feet of water. The flood waters have receded and left behind a big, muddy mess!

So there's lots of cleaning going on, plus motors pulled, dried and resealed.

Putting it all in perspective, we're just glad that it occured when we were closed, and no one was injured.

Thanks for your concern, Paula

As are we too! Glad that the park was closed at the time and no one got hurt.

Good to hear that no one was hurt.

When I looked over at the water park, it seemed to sit lower than the rest of the park but I figured it was still pretty high above the river. I guess not.

Is this something that the park crew cleans up, or do you hire outside help to assist?

Well there is a creek that runs under part of the waterpark, so that is probably what had the flash flood. My guess is the areas nearest that creek were effected most. While further away I would suspect might not have been quite so bad. But that would depend mostly on elevations.