By Danelle Cutting
Hurley Park

“When it rains, it pours” has been an old adage that is still proving to be relevant, especially for North Carolina. Thursday, Nov. 12, proved to be a chaotic day with a flash flood warning issued for our area. This made Friday the 13th even more real, where the damage of the flooding could really be revealed. Below are some questions we have gathered from park attendees:

Question: Why did the pond and park flood; is there anything you can do to keep it off of the trails? 

Answer: Unfortunately, the weather was chaotic that week and the days kept changing when we were supposed to receive the most rain. Also, Hurley Park is near flood zones which makes it quite difficult to have everything protected from flooding. Our pond also receives the run off from large surface areas near the hospital and off of Henderson and Craig streets. This makes a large amount of water crowd a small pond very quickly and by being neighbors with City Lake, their runoff runs into our annex area creating a larger turbulent river spilling over the spillways and engulfing trails and bridges. Due to the large amount of rain in a small amount of time (4.5 inches in our rain gauge), being in a flood area and only having a small pond to capture the run off, it is very difficult for us not to flood during those conditions. When we do have flooding, we try to make the public aware as soon as possible through our social media accounts to reduce foot traffic to the park. As always, stay tuned to the weather and our social media posts to be aware of the conditions in the surrounding area and park.

Question: Did the trails and bridges that were flooded make it through the flooding?

Answer: Thankfully, we did not lose as much gravel or have as much damage to the swale bridges as we have had in the past. We did have a few trails that were flooded, along with some missing gravel, but they seem to be easier repairs. We did have more issues in the annex area where the flood waters got behind some of the wall areas removing the soil behind them. We are currently in discussion with the city on how we would like to proceed in the future to protect this area in case of future flooding.

Question: Why are there signs up about the park being under surveillance?

Answer: Over the past few months, we have had an increase in theft and damage to Hurley Park. This is a tool for us to use to help reduce the instances that can potentially devastate the beauty of our wonderful park. Since the installation, we have actually not had any instances of damage or theft. We hope that it will continue to be that way so that everyone can enjoy the beauty of Hurley Park.

Thanks to everyone caring for Hurley Park and sending us questions. If you have any additional questions about the park or what is going on, please give us a call at 704-638-4459, or contact us on Facebook or Instagram @HurleyParkNC. If you would like to donate to Hurley Park, visit our website at salisburync.gov/hurleypark.