Floodwaters Eat Away Runway

California's Santa Paula Airport is closed and may remain so for sometime, after floodwaters washed away a 155-foot long section of the runway. Now, aircraft owners and the airport museum are struggling to save their planes.

The airport sits on the edge of the Santa Clara River. Over the past week, as Southern California has been deluged with up to eight-inches of rain, the river has swarmed out of its banks, menacing the airport and everything on it.

"We've lost, on the southern side, 100 feet of a portion of the runway right now," said Pat Quinn, a leader of the private association that runs the airport. He was quoted by the Ventura County Star. Just an hour after Quinn's comment, the paper reported, another massive chunk of the runway was washed away.

Crews have been working frantically at the airport since Monday, according to local news reports. Overnight, they built a jetty and were able to save the hangars -- many of which house priceless vintage aircraft.

Airport managers called for help, bringing in private contractors who dumped rock, dirt and concrete into the gorge that had developed near the runway.

Ventura County officials were still wrangling with federal disaster officials, trying to convince them the airport qualifies for government assistance. But no money had been approved by Wednesday afternoon, putting efforts to save the strip in jeopardy, not to mention long-term recovery plans.

Rowena Mason, president of the Santa Paula Airport Association, tells an even more discouraging story. She said she has repeatedly asked local, state and federal agencies for help, only to be turned away at each step.

"I'm fighting the bureaucracy," she told the Star.

Santa Paula City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz admitted to the paper, this storm caught his staff flat-footed. "Certainly, over time, we've had plans for airplane crashes," he said. "As far as the river ripping into the runway, we have no plan for this."

But there is reason for hope that some sort of government assistance may be forthcoming at Santa Paula, even though a request for help in shoring up the banks of the Santa Clara River on airport land was turned down because it's a private airport. During the summer of fire, which scorched much of Southern California almost two years ago, Santa Paula was a critical firebase. It was used by both airborne and ground-based fire crews as a staging area. In addition, some 24 business make their home at the airport, which averages about 125 flight operations a day.

"We have to provide a compelling argument," Laura Hernandez, assistant director for the Ventura County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services, told the Star. "We see Santa Paula Airport as a critical structure that provides public safety services. It's a matter of proving that."

FMI: www.richstowell.com/szp.htm