The Flood Plain

The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a wonderful flood plain that holds water in wet years. The water soaks into the ground and recharges the aquifer. 

A flood plain is a fairly flat area of land next to a creek that is subject to flooding. The Laguna expands and contracts as rain patterns differ from year to year. Maybe every 20 or 30 years the Laguna swells up huge; I suppose the wet years will come more frequently as global warming worsens. Or less frequently. 

Anyway, I was surprised a few years back when banks loaned a developer money to erect about four blocks of buildings in the flood plain about a hundred yards from the creek.  I don’t know a thing about banking. Maybe there’s a knack to it, and they made a nice profit.  

The business people who rented space in the new buildings were certainly gamblers. The planning commission and city council who issued permits to build in a laguna were, for the most part, attempting to grow the tax base, I think, unless they were sweet-talked. One thing builders sometimes tell elected town officials is, “I know you’re hoping to run for congress in three years, and if you support us today, we’ll be there with backers when you need a political donation.”

A few months back it rained hard, the Laguna rose high and swelled, and the new district flooded. Many were ruined, an outcome few could have predicted, allegedly, although the term "flood plain" has a ring to it that might stir a few thoughts.