Flood-Ravaged Field Gets $6 Million To Fight Flood Damage

Photos By Rich Stowell

Limited runway operations could get underway as early as Monday at flood-ravaged Santa Paula Airport in California, where the Santa Clara River, swollen beyond its banks by torrential rains, has eroded a huge portion of the strip.

As ANN reported last week, the rains washed away about 155 feet of the 2,650-foot long runway. But it could have been much worse. Master CFI Rich Stowell, who runs a flight training operation at Santa Paula, said, if not for the heroic efforts of emergency workers and volunteers last week, the runway would have been much more severely damaged. When he arrived at the airport on Tuesday morning, Stowell told ANN he found the Santa Clara River was within six feet of the runway itself.

"Shock and disbelief," he said, describing his first reaction to the sight. "Everybody left [Monday night] and everything was status quo. We came out [Tuesday morning] and lost a huge chunk of the airport. While we were standing there that Tuesday morning, we watched one of the windsocks slide down the hill and wash down the river."

Crews worked 24 hours straight, trying to shore up the crumbling riverbank before it could do more damage to the runway, which had already lost 40 or so feet to storms in January.

Remarkably, none of the aircraft parked at Santa Paula -- including a number of vintage birds -- was damaged in the flooding. "They had moved all those airplanes along that south bank, where a number of transient airplanes were tied down, two or three times this season, based on the weather." Sounds like it's become old hat at Santa Paula.

Stowell, along with Santa Paula town officials, was worried about whether the airport could ever bounce back. It's a privately-owned field, making government assistance a dubious proposition. But on Friday, the US Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it would send $6 million to Santa Paula for airport repairs and to shore up the river bank to reduce erosion.

"This is all very good news," said Rowena Mason, president of the Santa Paula Airport Association, in Saturday's Ventura County Star. "Businesses (at the airport) keep asking us whether they need to move. The flight school has temporarily left for Oxnard Airport. This has been devastating."

Given the erosion and threats that more runway could be washed into the river, airport executives and the FAA have decided to allow operations along only 1,220 feet of the Santa Paula runway. Flights will reportedly be restricted to local pilots and "special circumstances."

"That's not a safe situation for landing," said Caltrans safety officer Kurt Haukohl. "I would anticipate a lot more of the airport is going to fall as the water recedes. They're going to find themselves 30 feet above the river's height."

While $6 million federal grant will help with repairs to the eroded riverbank and create a new channel for the Santa Clara away from the runway, it will not address repairs to the crumbling runway itself. The private-ownership issue complicates that issue even further, leading Santa Paula City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz to tell the Star the city will help the airport look for "creative ways to get funding."

In the meantime, as long as it's closed, Santa Paula Airport is losing about $16,000 a day. Last week, airport officials were racing against Mother Nature. This week, they'll be racing against time.

FMI: www.richstowell.com