Dudleys Diary

my home. There is a nice little park about one and one half acres in size near where I live that was donated by a deceased resident. They have a swing set for the kids and a bunch of trees and a nice little creek that bisects the park. There is a sharp bend in the creek in the middle of the park and it causes the water to back up the creek when ever we have a really heavy rain. The water has been known to get out of the creek bank and to cause minor flood damage to a few homes along the creek. The city is now in the middle of a flood control project to "fix" this problem. They are going through all of the small creeks with bull dozers and back hoes and are knocking down all of the brush and beautiful mature trees, leaving a bare ugly ditch. They will probably line the former creeks with concrete. I am concerned this will cause all of the run off to go immediately into the large creek located less than 100 yards from my home causing it to go out of its banks. If this happens several hundred homes will receive heavy flood damage. I am more fortunate than most, my home is built up on a pier and beam foundation a few feet above the ground. Most of my neighbors homes are built on concrete slabs at ground level. I have flood insurance but I would prefer not to ever have to use it. Time will tell if the city knows what they are doing. I hope they are not trading a small past problem in for a larger future one.