Flood update

Well, we're pretty nearly cleaned up and ready to open Ola Lola's today. Monday in the storm was the officially our worst business night ever. Thank you to Lisa, Brian and Zan who came out anyway.

This Sunday we are having the first (and we hope the last) Ola Lola's WTF (What the Flood?) party. As part of the party, we are have a silent auction fundraiser to help a friend repair/replace a car that was severely damaged in the flood. We have several paintings by world-famous artist Kurt Ziegler to auction. Several other people are donating other items as well, including a car-detailing and original Bamboo Art.

Proyecto update: the Developers cleared all the vegetation out of the project area so when the huge rain came, there was nothing to hold to the soil or to slow down the water runoff. So, massive amonts of water roared down the road (that was part of the water that trapped our friend) carrying massive amounts of dirt to the ocean. Added to that was dirt and mud eroded from the bare cliffs where they quarry rock from the mountainside, just upstream from us. (Some of what they quarry there is the fill for the proyecto.) So now we have the worst situation: we have none of the "protections" against erosion and water runoff to the ocean the Developer promised for the completed project, and, because all the vegetation has been stripped away, none of the natural protection that was in place before the Developer messed with it. Oh, and I guess they really are done with the project (for now at least). The contractor hauled his last big bulldozer out of there this morning.

You can see photos of the aftermath of the flood around the project here. In some of the pictures you'll notice there was enough force of water and mud to bend the metal fence out.