JC ice arena is preparing for rising waters

The Washington Park Ice Arena in Jefferson City is closed indefinitely as floodwaters creep toward the building.

The director of Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Todd Spalding said today they have taken all the precautions they are able to. “There are certain areas around the ice arena that we can kind of put sandbags up on. We can make sure that if we have an event like this we can move out a lot of the equipment that could be damaged by getting water inside it.”

The ice arena flooded in September of 2016. “The difference between this flood and the last flood we had is that the last one was a really fast, heavy, and this one has been a slow-motion sort of thing.”

Spalding said they have also closed several roads in Washington Park and many of the sports fields are currently underwater.

“We’re just making sure people don’t get caught in bad situations and go into different spots where they can’t or shouldn’t be going.”

Now, all they can do is wait. “We’re just kind of waiting to see what the weather does, and we’re ready for whatever happens.”