Campgrounds are often located in flood areas because campers usually like to be close to the water. Ten people were killed in a 2010 flash flood of low-lying campgrounds in Arkansas, when 8-10 inches of rain in the upstream watershed raised stream levels as much as seven meters faster than rangers could get notification out to evacuate campgrounds. At least 200 campsites were flooded.
This is also an issue in RV parks, when tend to be located on low value land, which often equates to flood plain. Our local RV "Resort" will be under 20 feet of water in a 100 year flood (we've had three of those in the 36 years I've lived here). I've been in more than one RV park where I was thinking, as I hooked up, "I don't want to be here if it might rain tonight."
As a geoscientist, I'm probably more aware of these issues than most RVers and campers. It also has an influence on where I choose to live, like not on an island in the middle of a flood basin (especially a low-lying island) or at the top of a bluff or cliff ready to slide into the river or sea, which tend to be really choice property before the disaster happens.
But "We love it here, we will come back" is the more typical response. A couple of my sisters really love beaches, probably the most ephemeral of properties for building. Fortunately for them, they can't afford beachfront property, at least not close enough to build something that will get washed away in their lifetimes.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B
