Baseball leagues from the Boys and Girls Club in Van Buren had over 100 games canceled because the field of dreams where they play is underwater.
“It's just been really devastating,” Brittany Ransom, Van Buren Boys & Girls Club, said. “Anyone that's seen the pictures they can see how catastrophic across the field it is there. It's made a big impact financially and to or kids and our parents. Everybody's feeling it.”
The park has been underwater for more than a week. Field of Dreams Park Manager Paul Dunn told us on the phone Monday (June 1) there's over 40 inches of water inside the building as well.
“They've I think postponed the games for a while because their building has a lot of damage that has to be cleaned up,” Wayne Sandusky, Streets Department Manager said.
Clean-up can’t start until the water goes down. The flooding is also extensive at Lee Creek Park, but some took advantage of the high waters by fishing. Maudie Bowman has lived in the area for nearly 55 years.
“I've never seen the river or any of the lakes like this,” Bowman said. “It's been bad.”
The parks department is waiting for this water to recede to assess the damage.
“Hopefully by Thursday things will be close to getting back to normal,” Sandusky said.
Once the water goes down, the Boys and Girls Club will be seeking volunteers to help clean up the Field of Dream, while the Cass Job Corps will deal with Lee Creek Park.
The parks department closed the end of 1st Street going into Lee Creek Park on Sunday (May 31). Also closed in Van Buren is the entrance to the Field of Dreams and Rena Road near the campgrounds.