Flash floods disrupt turf
The National Weather Service reported Kansas City was on the verge of setting the record for the wettest August after storms Friday night lifted the Kevin Gray field off of its foundation.
Assistant Athletic Director and Varsity Softball Head Coach Ty Abney initially noticed the disrupted turf on the west side of the field on Sunday. photo by Gabby Staker
August 31, 2016
After flash floods soaked the Kansas City metro area Friday night and Brookside Boulevard guttered a small river, the Kevin Gray field at St. Teresa’s Academy was lifted off of its foundation.
Assistant Athletic Director and Softball Head Coach Ty Abney discovered the rain’s impact Sunday.
“It wasn’t actually damage,” Abney said. “It was more like so much rain had fallen and then at the same time all the water was draining from up the hill had run onto the turf.”
Abney believes that the combined runoff from west end of campus and a total rainfall of 1.96 inches found its way “underneath the turf surface and it kind of creased it.”
Along with STA Athletic Director Mark Hough, Abney spent “eight or nine hours” Aug. 30 restoring the turf. “We had to blow everything off–like all the debris– and [Hough] was on a giant Yamaha roller and had to flatten everything back up,” Abney said.
While they were able to repair most of the field, Abney admits that small creases can still be found in the batting cages.
