Heavy rainfall swelled the Eugene Millrace Tuesday morning, leaving the Urban Farm under more than one foot of muddy water while University employees at Barnhart Hall filled sandbags to keep encroaching floodwaters from entering the residence hall dining area.
Crews with earthmoving machinery formed small earthen berms to battle rising water along University property north of Franklin near the Millrace Studios. At Barnhart Hall, sandbagging efforts stopped, at least temporarily, the bulk of the water from reaching the building’s south doors by 12:30 p.m.
Water also penetrated Allen, Friendly and Agate Annex halls.
Areas of Eugene have received as much as 2.68 inches of rainfall over the past 24 hours as of Tuesday afternoon, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
Surveying the Urban Farm Tuesday morning, Landscape Architecture Department Head Stanton Jones said the flooding was the most he’d seen during his 12 years with the University. He called recent rains a “significant storm event,” saying that much of the area sits on a flood plain.
“This is one of the reasons you don’t build on low-lying areas next to waterways,” he said.
The University will have to wait for water to recede naturally because there’s no where to pump it, he said.
“The ground is already saturated, so there’s not a lot of places for the water to go,” he said.
Pollution carried by the floodwater may be an issue for the farm, but the rich soil in the farm should help absorb any pollution, he said.
Wearing a blue rain jacket and calf-high black rubber boots, junior Caleb Laughlin waded between garden stakes at the Urban Farm. A member of the Urban Farm class this term, he stumbled on the flooding and called the head of the Urban Farm program to alert her.
“Luckily I brought my boots,” he said.
His class will be working to redesign the farm this term, but they hadn’t considered flooding, he said.
“This might pose a while different design challenge,” he said.
Eugene Police are urging drivers to be cautious and avoid flooded areas including westbound I-105 between Coburg Road and Delta Highway and Pearl Street at E. 12th Avenue. E. 19th Avenue between Peral Street and High, near South Eugene High School has also been closed to traffic.
Contact the Editor in chief at [email protected]
