It is Saturday and we are at day 62 of our 90 Days Until March 1 countdown. I failed to mention a couple things over that last couple of days, The first was that reservations for the New Years weekend came storming in on Thursday and Friday. We had a couple of reservation days that rivaled a lot of weekends during the busiest part of the Summer. That's always good to see this time of year, even if it's simply fueled by a holiday. The other thing I forgot was the anniversary of the big Christmas Day Flood that occurred three years ago this week.
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| 2017 April Flood at Rainbow Haven Resort |
The gentleman that we bought the Rainbow Haven Resort from was here when it happened. On Christmas morning, 2015, the water from the lake was high but in it's banks and seemed to be stable. He went to Branson to see friends that day and upon returning home, he found the water had quickly flooded the area all the way up to close to seven feet deep in the lower levels of the resort. This meant that rooms 4, 8 and the office were all seven feet deep in lake Taneycomo water. The picture to the right is from one of the 2017 floods. The 2015 Christmas flood was about three feet deeper and came up to about one foot from the upper level deck. It was devastating mostly because it lasted longer and actually destroyed a lot of finished space which was everything on the lower levels.
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| Memorial Day 2017 Flood Survival crew |
In 2016 when we purchased the resort, we decided against redoing the lower levels and simply left them empty. That proved to be a good decision in the Spring of 2017 when we experienced two floods. One in April and one in May. Neither came up to the level of the 2015 flood but both were a nuisance regardless. The decision to leave the lower level empty had proven itself to be a good plan. in both of the 2017 floods, we were back open and operational in less than 24 hours of each of the events. In fact, the May flood happened on Memorial Day weekend and we had a full house of guests. Some of which thought it was a big Resort Adventure and were wading around the parking lot in water taking pictures. Some actually slept through it and by the time they woke up and came out in the morning, everything was already back to normal.
By the Way, there is a funny story related to the group of ladies you see in the picture and the May flood. It was close to midnight when water began to flood the parking lot and cars needed to be moved. This group was a "Girls Get-Away" group that happened to be watching a creepy/horror/slasher movie on TV when we started pounding on their door to get them out to move their vehicles out of the way of the rising water. They REFUSED to even come anywhere near the door for fear that a slasher was ready to murder them all! Of course they were safe and we finally coaxed them out to take care of their cars. They spent the next 2 hours splashing around in the parking lot taking silly pictures of themselves. They said it was the best "Get-Away" they'd ever had. I asked if it was okay with them if I did not arrange to have a flood entertain them the next time they came to town!
Thank goodness there have been no floods to make up our Resort Adventures since the May, 2017 flood. I'm COMPLETELY okay with not experiencing another one for at least 20 or maybe even 50 or 100 years!
On a brighter note. We are open for business and have a surprising number of rooms and cabins occupied this weekend. We even have a former Rainbow Haven Resort owner and former Rockaway Beach mayor visiting. Larry and Paula owned the Resort many years ago and were passing through this weekend. It's good to see them again!
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