Weathering the Storm

Reston has been hit by an earthquake, a hurricane and tropical storm in the last month. At Thursday'smeeting, RA Parks and Recreation Director Larry Butler gave an overview of what kind of damage was left behind.

The earthquake that hit Virginia in late August was a 5.8 on the Richter scale, but left no damage to RA property, Butler said. Similarly, when Hurricane Irene rolled through less than a week later, there was little more than a few tree limbs blown down.

Butler pointed out that rain gauges at various Reston spots showed between 6.5 and 7 inches of rain in a few hours - and at one point .82 of an inch in 15 minutes. That, combined with the four inches of rain that fell earlier in the week, caused streams to overflow, bridges to be washed away and other property damage.

"This was 250-to-500-year rain event," Butler said. "This was the worst  flooding in Reston since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. But to compare, Dulles Airport's one-day total during Agnes was 10.67 inches of rain. During Lee, there was 2.27 inches there. That tells you how localized the bands were. This was a phenomenal storm."

Some of Lee's wrath:

* Damage to Reston's bike trails. About 10 percent of backfilled areas on the paths were damaged, but on the way to being repaired, Butler said. Fifty percent of the excertrail at was washed out, he said.

* The rainfall caused debris to enter Reston lakes from high in the floodplain, Butler said. was cancelled because of this. Butler said there were logs, lawn furniture and other debris in the lake that had not been seen in years.

"Water carried logs from all over the place," he said. "The water levels of Lake Anne and Lake Audubon rose 3 to 3.5 feet. The dock at Lake Anne was totally underwater. I have been here 29 years and I have never seen that."

* The saturated ground caused several trees to fall, including a large one at a playground in the Hunters Woods.

* Three footbridges were lifted and moved downstream. Butler said the recent stream restoration helped keep water away from where it should not go at Snakeden Branch and The Glade.

The bridge at Lake Fairfax was not damaged, but the abutments were. RA is working on fixing them.

* There was flooding at Nature House when a sump pump did not work.

* Butler found the 30-year-old plans from the Reston North Park and Ride. The plans showed the 100-year flood line. Butler says that based on photo evidence, the water that quickly rose to flood the lot on Sept. 8 was three to four feet above the the 100-year line.

The firm Wetlands Studies and Solutions, which works with RA on stream restoration, has further info here.

The advocacy Save the Glade is skeptical of RE's assessment that there was not a large amount of damage to streams. Advocate Jon O. Clarke says the damage "that was done to the stream banks and structures represents 'chinks in the armor' that are likely to lead to further damage by lesser storms in the future."

"If repairs are made only to the most spectacular failures, the integrity and longevity of the restored streams is open to question, he wrote in an email to group members. "The extent of the lightly to heavily scoured and eroded banks across all reaches represents 1,000's of linear feet of stream."

Also at the meeting:

* RA and Del. Ken Plum recognized the

* Three options for financing an indoor tennis facility were presented: Two bank loan options at 5.5 percent interest or private bond financing. The tennis facility is still an ongoing discussion and no plans are set yet.