ABSTRACT: On February 12, 1992, a portion of the Ventura River, California, flowed through the Ventura Beach RV Resort which had recently been constructed across a major historically active distributary of the Ventura River delta. State and local land‐use planners recognized the flood hazards associated with the site, but decision‐makers relied on analytical methods developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and flood‐hazard categories developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which did not adequately reflect the mobile nature of the Ventura River channel and distributaries. A better understanding of the historical behavior of the Ventura River could have averted the flood damages experienced in 1992. Low intensity recreational, agricultural, or habitat restoration use of the site would minimize potential flood damages and obviate the need for structural flood protection that would impact the river's natural resources. Continued operation of the recreational vehicle park could result in additional flood damages in the relatively near future; recognizing the limitations of the flood‐modeling methodologies used for the Ventura Beach RV Resort could prevent similar miscalculations of flood potential in comparable situations.