Costly Flooding Keeping Springfield Football Team From Home Turf
SPRINGFIELD, Minn. (WCCO) -- As high school football teams get ready to begin another season, one team won't have the luxury of playing on their home field.
About a month ago, on July 4, the Cottonwood River rose suddenly, flooding a part of the city of Springfield.
The city pool was underwater. So were campsites, the baseball diamond and the football field.
While the floodwaters are now gone, they left behind plenty of damage.
"This was by far the worst I have witnessed and seen," said Paul Arnoldi, the city's activities director.
For that Fourth of July week, it was easier to get across the flooded side of town by canoe rather than car.
Now, some things, like the pool, have re-opened. But repairs to other parts of Riverside Park have become watered down.
Springfield baseball teams spent the rest of their summer playing home games in another town.
It's not exactly known when the football team can return. Meanwhile, practice is set to start on Monday.
"With the water that came in, the bacteria level was really high," said football coach Bob Fink. "A lot of things that were touched by the water and underwater will not be used again."
Fink, who is in his first year of coaching, says lockers and shoulder pads were just part of the tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage that was left behind.
As the field is being replanted, the team is relocating to another park. They will bring in portable scoreboards and bleachers to make it work.
It's a challenge the players will have to overcome even before the season kicks off.
"Just like I'm going to tell our football team, there are worse things that could happen in life," Fink said. "If you are down 21 to nothing at halftime, are you going to give up or move forward?"
With a little luck, they are hoping to return to Riverside Park by homecoming. But all of that depends on how well the grass seed and the turf below it responds.
This isn't the first time the Springfield football team has had to overcome a major flood.
In 2010, they had to play their homecoming game at their opponent's field.
