Around mid-week the new high school stadium facility in Audubon looked more like a lake and less like a football field after 4.5” of rain fell in less than twenty-four hours. Audubon Superintendent Brett Gibbs says when the district began stadium renovations this summer – they installed new bleachers, lights, and a new surface on the track – they also buried a 15 foot tube and drainage tile along the path of an ever-growing creek ditch located just behind the bleachers to try and control water flow. The system on Wednesday, however, just couldn’t handle the heavy downpour and it actually uncovered a hidden problem at the north end of the football field.
Over the years, he says, the creek just kept getting deeper so tile lines just kept getting added, but no one made a map of their placement, so when the contractor connected existing lines to new ones some of them got missed. Once things dry out the issue will be resolved according to Gibbs who adds that without local help showing up earlier this week the field might have still been underwater for the Homecoming game scheduled Friday.
After the water was drained Gibbs and his team walked the brand new track looking for damage.
He says the worst of the known damage was the loss of gravel near the ticket booth which was washed away. He says the district will need to look at other options for that area as this is about the third time it’s happened. The Audubon Wheelers host MVAO Friday night for their homecoming game which begins at 7:00 pm.
