Harrison flying club seeks help after historic Whitewater River flooding

HARRISON, Ohio (WXIX) - A model airplane club along the Whitewater River is turning to the community for help after historic flooding damaged its property about a week ago.

Cincinnati Aeromodelers, a Harrison radio-controlled flying club, says it has dealt with minor flooding in the past but nothing close to what it saw last week.

Water reached 25 1/2 feet

Clark Buttner, vice president of Cincinnati Aeromodelers, said the club is in a floodplain and floods periodically, but usually only sees a foot to two feet of water.

“We are in a floodplain so we do get flood periodically, we don’t get them every year, and a lot of times they are a foot, or maybe a foot and a half or two feet,” Buttner said.

This time, Buttner said water reached about 25 1/2 feet, well above the roughly 20 feet the club typically sees in its hangar.

“It was up around 25 1/2 feet, which is way, I mean we get it in the hangar at 20 feet roughly,” Buttner said.

Buttner said the club was watching the storms in advance but could not have done much more to prepare.

“We were looking into Indiana and the upstream area from the Whitewater River and there was a big cloud up there and it just parked itself there for quite some time,” Buttner said.

Damage to planes and property

A mark left on the club’s building shows how high the water reached a week ago. A porta potty that had been on the property is now gone.

The doors to the club’s hangar were closed, which kept the model planes from floating away, but Buttner said the electrical components in the planes are damaged from mud and water.

The club is mostly supported by events it hosts throughout the year that bring hobbyists from across the country. Three of those events have been canceled this year due to flooding.

“We’ll recover, you know, but obviously every little bit helps,” Buttner said.

The club’s next event is scheduled for October. It is hoping its space will be repaired and ready to host by then. A GoFundMe has been set up, and the club estimates about $5,000 to $6,000 in damages.

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