Heavy rains last week swept a Dumpster into Pimmit Run stream and wedged the brown receptacle under the bridge at Westmoreland Drive in McLean. Water soon came up over the embankment, flooding the Little League ball fields that are located next to the stream.
Cathy Saunders, a member of the Friends of Burke Springs Branch, which flows into Pimmit Run, said the Dumpster posed a problem for the stream and needed to be removed expeditiously.
Chuck Miner, with AAA trash service, which owns the Dumpster, said they had been unaware of the rogue Dumpster until alerted by the county but removed it quickly. “It was an eight yard trash can from a business down the street. We had our towing company come out and remove it,” said Miner. “As a community service we try to get everything out of the water that we can. It probably just washed away in the rain.,” said Miner.
Barrett Geobel, a baseball fan and resident of the area, said, “That’s going to be pretty touchy to get out. That’s in there pretty good. I can’t believe the water was high enough to carry it away like that.”
The heavy downpours that caused the swollen stream to overflow also damaged nearby foliage and moved heavy telephone poles around the parking lot at the field.
McLean Little League serves 1,070 boys and girls each year. It has 94 teams that play an average of 700 games a season.
Saunders said that the baseball fields unwittingly added to the problem because of the grading and the surface materials used on the baseball fields. “Obviously, the baseball field has been there a long time and does a real service, but unfortunately it’s in the flood plain. Every time they add an impervious service there, it only adds to the problem,” said Saunders.