Richfield Park recovering from Florence damage

Published 2:13 pm Saturday, September 29, 2018

Hurricane damage to Richfield Park will soon be under repair.

When Florence struck Stanly County, both Curl Tail Creek and the lake it flows into there overflowed their banks.

“The flooding was about the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Terry Almond, the commissioner over parks for the Richfield Town Council. “It got within about a foot of coming over the covered bridge … and it did at one point in the night come over the spillway and cross the road.”

All that flooding not only washed out sections of the Falcon Trail, but also moved two foot bridges out of place. One moved 4-5 feet, Almond detailed, the other moved about 50 feet.

“A tree fell on the trail as well,” Almond said.

Since the bridges are too big to pick up and move back by hand, some special equipment will be needed to put it back. Richfield business BRS, Inc. has volunteered to lend both a mini-excavator and labor to move the bridge back into place.

“But overall, we got lucky,” Almond said. “It wasn’t too bad.”

At the meeting, councilors also:

  • Heard from three candidates running for office: Michael Lambert and Zach Almond (county commissioner race) and Jason Ritter (Richfield Town Council race).
  • Announced that the stonework on a new sign is complete for Tyson Park. The next step is to mount some donated Fiberon boards onto the base.