Trailers flooded, RVs destroyed by rising water in Kingsburg RV park

Saturday, June 1, 2019
Trailers flooded, RVs destroyed by rising water in Kingsburg RV park
Dozens of people with "riverfront property" in a Kingsburg RV park are now in the water.

Dozens of people with "riverfront property" in a Kingsburg RV park are now in the water.

They're trying to salvage what they can after flooding hit the Club Royal Oak Resort.

The new owners have a royal flood situation on their hands. In just the past few hours, rising water has prompted the last few residents to move their trailers and get out.

It was a mad dash for the final few residents to pack up and leave their now flooded home or vacation retreat.

Airon Huffman braved the icy water to save his last few must-haves before the water whisked them downstream.

"All my kids' stuff basically and the fireplace... I was going to leave it thinking it was going to go away but negative, it's still coming up. And some more is supposed to come too," Huffman says.

Tulare County seasonal firefighters spent a second day placing sandbags around restrooms, offices, and anything else that couldn't be moved to save it from water.

Alisha Kelly is the manager of the newly named Kings River RV Park. She's had to helplessly watch as the force of nature invades the waterfront resort.

"The river had gone all the way to the back of the park within just a couple of hours," she says.

The quickly evolving crisis is not expected to subside anytime soon. For days, Alisha has been watching flood release numbers and worrying what it could mean for the resort that's getting into its prime season.

"What I know and what I believe is that from the storm they had to release the water which is what we're getting right now and now the sun's out and it's getting hot and it's rising, the snow is going to start melting and we're going to see more water," she says.

Already 30 to 40 full-time and vacationing residents have had to vacate the area.

The problem now is getting trailers that are stored here to safety. Some of the owners have not been able to be contacted to move their RVs before they are underwater.

The last flood in the area was two years ago and much of the resort has been restored since, so there's a lot of anxiety. Some residents have moved their trailers up on the hill here and are in a wait-and-see mode.