Watershed

‘Everything was floating’: Flooding of FDR Park’s boathouse destroys nonprofit’s equipment

The nonprofit Discovery Pathways says equipment, including life jackets, boat paddles, fishing rods, kayak seats and power tools, was damaged.

Sophia Schmidt

September 9, 2025

The boathouse at Philadelphia's FDR Park at the height of the flood. (courtesy of Adam Forbes)

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When Adam Forbes returned to the boathouse in South Philly’s FDR Park last week after a few weeks away, he found fish swimming inside.

Unusually high water levels in the park’s lakes had inundated the area beneath the FDR Park Boathouse, which Discovery Pathways, the nonprofit Forbes runs, uses to store equipment for its environmental education field trips, dragon boat team, family-fun days and youth-run community fishing and boating activities.

“Mostly everything was floating,” Forbes said. “Even stuff that had been stored feet high, I guess tipped over with the waters. It was pretty [much] just a mess of floating things and lots of stinky mold.”

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The flooding started in mid-August, when Discovery Pathways staff were away leading a youth camping trip, Forbes said. The water sat in the boathouse for weeks, damaging equipment — including a water cooler, a mini fridge, boat paddles and roughly 100 fishing rods. On Tuesday, Forbes was still assessing the damage, but estimated it could amount to over $1,000 worth of equipment.

“So far, we’ve really thrown out hundreds of dollars of drills and life jackets and kayak seats that are covered in mold,” Forbes said. “Lots of little stuff that adds up, especially for a small community program.”

Interior after boathouse flooding — The boathouse at FDR Park at the height of the flood. (courtesy of Adam Forbes)

The lakes’ high water levels were caused by a log that lodged in the park’s tide gate, which regulates the flow of water between the park’s lake system and the tidal Delaware River, said Heather Redfern, a spokesperson for Philadelphia International Airport.

The airport replaced the tide gate in 2023 as part of the multiyear, $250 million renovation ongoing at the park. The airport is paying for and managing the creation of a 33-acre tidal wetland in FDR Park as an offset for disrupting other nearby wetlands with its cargo expansion project.

A contractor removed the stuck log during low tide on Monday, Redfern said. The water in the boathouse has since started to recede.

“We’re grateful [to] Parks and Rec for really pushing and trying to figure out what was going on and how to solve it,” Forbes said.

Adam Forbes demonstrates how high flood waters rose at the FDR Park Boathous — Adam Forbes, director of Discovery Pathways, demonstrates how high flood waters rose at the FDR Park Boathouse in South Philadelphia. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

The new tidal wetland and tide gates are part of an effort to address chronic flooding issues by increasing the park’s capacity to soak up water. The ongoing renovation of FDR Park will also include a new kayak and canoe launch, dozens of new athletic fields and courts, and a new welcome center.

The park experienced another flooding issue related to the tide gate two years ago when airport contractors removed the park’s two old tide gates in order to replace them. The lakes rose, submerging the bases of some picnic tables, playground equipment, benches and trees.

The FDR Boathouse storage area has flooded many times before, but the flood that started in August lasted much longer than usual, Forbes said. For roughly two years before the airport replaced the old tide gates, Discovery Pathways had come to expect regular flooding, so it elevated some supplies in the boathouse in watertight containers.

“Because there hadn’t been bad flooding in a while, we got a little lax on all of our complicated stacking systems,” he said. “That’s why a lot of power tools and life jackets and things got flooded.”

Chair outside flooded boathouse — The boathouse at the height of the flood. (courtesy of Adam Forbes)

Since the tide gates were replaced in 2023, Forbes said it’s mostly been the opposite problem: too little water.

Earlier this summer, low, stagnant water levels led to an algal bloom in the lakes, Forbes said. Students testing the water quality found unusually low levels of dissolved oxygen in the lakes. Discovery Pathways considered cancelling its water programs due to the poor water quality, but rain helped improve the conditions, he added.

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Redfern said the permanent water elevation within the lakes is based on “numerous stormwater calculations” to provide for year-round use of the waterways. She said the tide gates are “working as designed and permitted.”

Fan in flooded boathouse — The boathouse at FDR Park in Philadelphia at the height of the flood. (courtesy of Adam Forbes)

Discovery Pathways is hoping private donations or grant funding will help the nonprofit replace its damaged equipment.

“We’ll roll with it, and we’ll make sure all our programs continue, but we won’t have as good or as many supplies for the community until we figure out raising more funds,” Forbes said.

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