FAIRHOPE, Ala. (WALA) – Heavy rains last week eroded the ground underneath a newly opened staircase at South Beach Park, and the city is working to find a fix.
More than four inches of rain fell in a short amount of time, causing erosion in several spots along the bay. The damage is most severe on the south end of the park, where runoff cut a channel under the new switchback ramp and stairs recently opened to the public.
City engineer Richard Johnson said the sheer volume of water in such a short amount of time is to blame.
“Water found a path that it decided to take and it was a good bit of water moving pretty fast down the bluff and it basically, in layman’s terms kind of cut a channel that runs right under the stair system and if we don’t address that, it’s going to continue to want to go there,” Johnson said…