Of all the Richland County villages, Lexington was one that received some of the worst flooding in the area, especially the parks. Parks and Grounds Supervisor Tom Argenio, discussed the damage at Wednesday evening’s park board meeting and stated that the recent flood was one of the top three worst floods in Lexington’s history.
Rose Ball Field and the North Field got hit the hardest and are in need of reconstruction. This is the third time Rose Field needs to be rebuilt, noted Argenio.
In case of flooding in the near future, these two fields will not be rebuilt until next spring.
Only two baseball games were canceled and four tournament games were moved to other fields. Argenio said that fortunately, not many fall leagues utilize the baseball fields and that there are still playable fields at Swigart-Reel and Algire, which weathered the flooding well and stand in good condition.
For two days straight, Argenio and his crew pumped water out the parks with a 2-inch pipe. “We’ve basically been pumping the park dry,” he said.
The volleyball crew asked that more sand be placed in the courts in time for the Blueberry Festival, but Argenio said that endeavor doesn’t seem likely to happen for fear of getting equipment stuck in the mud, which would cause more damage.
With the Blueberry Festival nearing, August 15-18, the recent flooding has dictated that the village choose a back-up site just in case Lexington Community Park is flooded again.
Village Administrative Director, Aaron Wiegand, stated, “We have an auxiliary location within the village prepared if we need to move the festival to another site.”
He also added, “Kudos to Tommy and his crew for responding to the flood damage as quickly and effectively as they did. Not only did it flood twice, but trees fell down, too. It was nice to see how quickly they got the parks back up and running.”