Heavy Rains have Kentucky 'Ark Park' Suing Insurers

[Jerome]

Owners of Kentucky's Noah's Ark Attraction Sue Over Flooding Damage

Ken Ham & Co. are back in court. Here's their recently filed federal court complaint against Lloyds of London and other insurers:

https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/01-main-1558730170.pdf

"Plaintiff Ark Encounter, LLC is the owner of the real property and improvements located at 1 Ark Encounter Drive in Williamstown, Grant County, Kentucky (the “Property”), where it operates a creationist theme park known as the Ark Encounter. The centerpiece of the attraction is a representation of Noah’s Ark."

"Development of the Ark Encounter Property, which was completed in or about 2016, included construction of an access road at the crest of a hillside slope on the east side of the Property. This road and the abutting hillside are shown in the photograph below: ....Beginning in or about May 2017, and continuing into 2018, the slope abutting and supporting the access road began to fail. Subsequent to heavy rains, a significant landslide occurred along portions of the slope, which eliminated the structural support for the roadway, caused significant damage to the road surface itself and the incorporated improvements"

"Defendants have breached their contractual obligations, acted in bad faith, and violated the Kentucky Uniform Claims Settlement Practices Act by refusing to provide coverage for Plaintiffs’ covered loss."

 

[church mouse guy]

They had to level a lot of land to build on the site. This area has been getting day after day of heavy rains. If it started last year, hopefully they have saved the road. On the left by the Ark is a white Glice rink and not water. They just completed a 2500 seat auditorium there with a basement for future offices and shops for exhibit construction and repair. They want to build a Tower of Babel next.

 

[HankD]

IRONIC.

 

[Jerome]

IRONIC.

Oh yes.

Didn't It Rain!:

 

[HankD]

Oh yes.

Didn't It Rain!:

NICE!

 

[church mouse guy]

Waiting to see if Ark Encounter has to get a new insurance company. In spite of massive debt, AiG seems to have funds necessary to expand at both Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum. From the pictures, it looks as if that road was constructed too close to the edge but we ourselves did not go on that side because the washrooms were on the other side of the circle as well as the coffee stand and boutique shops and other food stands and the buffet restaurant, which makes everything from scratch. That circle is limited in vehicle traffic to Ark Encounter shuttle buses. I am not sure if people walked on that side or not.

I should have said about the Glice rink that it is an artificial ice skating rink. I guess that things like the skating rink, the zip lines, the small shops and some of the food stands are not operated by AiG but I don't know. They do operate Emzara's Restaurant buffet because Ken Ham has done a video tour of it and talked to the head chef about food preparation from scratch and the large variety and the need for more staff. The food is very good and very reasonable.

Perhaps Lloyds of London will say that the contractor should have to pay for a faulty plan. They leveled a great deal of land and the Ark is a mile distance from the massive 4000 car parking lot.

Incidentally, the construction of the new 2500 seat auditorium was plagued with heavy rains last year. It was completed.

Perhaps the leveling of the hills dislodged material underneath the road, because it looks as if the road was some ways back from the hillside.

Here is a 2016 construction video that show the lot from a drone:

 

[rlvaughn]

They want to build a Tower of Babel next.

That didn't work out too well for the last ones who tried it.

 

[Deacon]

That didn't work out too well for the last ones who tried it.

Apparently the insurance companies and the Ark group are speaking a different language.

Rob

 

[HankD]

That didn't work out too well for the last ones who tried it.

HEY! When at first you don't succeed ...

Yeah you're right though.

 

[church mouse guy]

That didn't work out too well for the last ones who tried it.

Hmm, do you think it was Sargon who is Nimrod? Do you think it was at Eridu? Ham says he probably never will finish it.
...

 

[church mouse guy]

Apparently the insurance companies and the Ark group are speaking a different language.

Rob

Those Kentucky Aussies have a deep southern accent that Londoners at Lloyds need a translator for....

 

[church mouse guy]

AiG denies that there was flooding and calls that Faked News.

“Contrary to some reporting, the damage to certain areas of the Ark Encounter themed attraction was not caused by a ‘flood.’ Further, the damage began occurring approximately two years ago and thus this is not a new development. The damaged areas have already been remediated.

“The Ark itself does not sit next to the damaged areas. The Ark was built on bedrock and was never in jeopardy.

“We are highly confident of the merits of our case as we seek a fair resolution with the insurance companies.”

Faked News

Creation Museum has announced a $2,000,000 upgrade to their planetarium. After ten years of heavy use, they plan to put in brighter projectors, better sound, a tilted dome, and new seating.

Stargazer Planetarium to Get Major Upgrade

 

[Jerome]

AiG denies that there was flooding and calls that Faked News.

“Contrary to some reporting, the damage to certain areas of the Ark Encounter themed attraction was not caused by a ‘flood.’ Further, the damage began occurring approximately two years ago and thus this is not a new development."

They characterized it as "heavy rains" in their own court filing, see OP:

Beginning in or about May 2017, and continuing into 2018, the slope abutting and supporting the access road began to fail. Subsequent to heavy rains, a significant landslide occurred along portions of the slope, which eliminated the structural support for the roadway, caused significant damage to the road surface itself and the incorporated improvements"

 

[Jerome]

“The Ark itself does not sit next to the damaged areas."

Before and after photos the Ark Park folks themselves submitted in their court filing:

 

[rlvaughn]

AiG denies that there was flooding and calls that Faked News.

Nothing wrong with seeing a little irony, but I'd say reporters got carried away with the irony, and also exaggerated it. Some headlines I saw wanted people to think the ark got flooded (click bait, I guess).

Heavy rains that wash out a roadside berm aren't necessarily a flood. Flooding usually describes water covering or submerging land, not necessarily eroding/washing away a hill or causing a landslide. At least that would be how we use it in common parlance here.

 

[Jerome]

Flooding usually describes water covering or submerging land, not necessarily eroding/washing away a hill or causing a landslide.

Washout - Wikipedia

"A washout is the sudden erosion of soft soil or other support surfaces by a gush of water, usually occurring during a heavy downpour of rain (a flash flood) or other stream flooding. These downpours may occur locally in a thunderstorm....A severe washout can become a landslide"

from their own court filing, see OP:

Subsequent to heavy rains, a significant landslide occurred along portions of the slope, which eliminated the structural support for the roadway, caused significant damage to the road surface itself and the incorporated improvements"

 

[HankD]

Hmm, will this modern ark float?

 

[Jerome]

WCPO-TV • 9 On Your Side • May 2018 Flooding in Williamstown, Kentucky

transcript: "We looked out the front window, and the water was just pouring down the hill from the back side of the Ark..."

 

[church mouse guy]

Hmm, will this modern ark float?

No, it is a building. Ham said that the Ark building was built on the bedrock. The problem stems from the fact that they had to level a major hill to get enough flat space. There was not a flood according to Ham. There is well over $100,000,000 in development in that museum in Williamstown. Then there is the Creation Museum in Petersburg, which is now planning a $2,000,000 upgrade in the planetarium, as well as offices in Hebron and I think a warehouse somewhere else (although that may be in Hebron, also). There is a lot of debt (I looked it up a year and a half ago) but the bonds that were issued through the county where Williamstown is are not backed up by the city so that if the Ark fails, the bondholders are stuck with worthless paper.

They have petting zoos and camel rides for kids at both facilities. Also, they installed children's playgrounds at both facilities that appeal both to normal children and severely physically handicapped children. John MacArthur said that the buffet restaurant (Emzara's) at the Ark Encounter was the best buffet that he hand ever eaten in because the food is prepared from scratch and the variety is huge.

So the two museums are world-class and AiG seems well-enough financed that they can manage things like this. One of their donors is the Greenes who own Hobby Lobby and who built the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. They lent several priceless Bibles on display in both places in Kentucky. I am thinking of going down there for a day in a couple of weeks. I am going to drive to Louisville and then drive through Kentucky as I don't know that part of Kentucky very well. I will pack a few things in case I get too exhausted and want to spend the night on the way back.

The Ark used a large crew of Amish carpenters and there were several Amish at the Ark when I was there in October of 2017.

 

[Deacon]

Ham said that the Ark building was built on the bedrock.

I've personally found it humorous that the "bedrock" upon which the Kentucky ark was built is sedimentary limestone.

Limestone is composed of the skeletal fragments (shells) of marine organisms. Limestone in this area is miles deep.
There are a number of different types of limestone based upon the various species alive at the time the deposits were made.

As the Ark Encounter group found out, limestone is partially soluble, dramatic evidence of this can be seen by visiting the vast Kentucky cave system of Mammoth Cave, just a bit south-west of the exhibit.

Rob

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