Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Huge chunks of Santa Paula airport washed away
The Associated Press
SANTA PAULA, Calif. A rain-swollen river in Ventura County is washing away huge chunks of one of the county’s airports. A 200-foot part of Santa Paula Airport’s 2600′ runway has been washed away by the Santa Clara River.
Because the damage occurred in the midway part of the runway, it’s reduced the usable part of the small airport’s only runway to about two-thousand feet.
The airport is currently closed to air traffic.
Crews are using dump trucks filled with boulders along the runway, to try to halt the erosion.
Pat Quinn, with the Pilot’s Association which runs the airport, says with more rain in the forecast, the battle could continue all night.
Santa Paula’s airport is popular with private pilots and is home base for about 300 planes.
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Posted in Pre-2008 Archived Articles
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