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Levees fail, add to flood problems in county |
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Monday, 28 December 2009 |
As a result of the nearly 10 inches of rain that fell Wednesday and Thursday, two levees broke Saturday night off Lawson and County Line roads at the Pulaski-Saline County line.
The breach left three families stranded in their homes and several people without phone service, authorities said.
Across the county, there is no estimate yet of flood damage from last week, but the Saline River still sits at flood stage.
Phone service to the levee-break victims is not expected to be restored for a week or longer. More than 30 people lost power at the time of the breach, but their power was restored by 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
“The phone company just kind of looked at the destroyed junction box and shook their head,” said West Pulaski Fire Chief Ronnie Wheeler.
The levees were two of five levees that surround five ponds that extend south from County Line and Lawson roads. The third pond breached and gushed into the next pond, causing that levee to breach as well.
The first pond was eight acres wide and nearly 40 feet deep, Wheeler said. He said he has been watching the levee for a few days, but he did not expect it to break.
“There was no indication it was going to break. It was just sudden, a surprise,” he said.
The water gush was nearly 50 feet wide and swept a car off the road 150 yards. One family near the breach sustained damage to their home because of the water surge. The family lost a large truck as it was washed down stream into a cattle pond. Large trailers owned by the family were washed up against the house, and a work building sustained heavy damage as well.
The three stranded families are going to try and get a bulldozer to create a path for them to leave their house. Emergency officials talked to the families in the homes who said they had enough supplies to survive being trapped at their homes.
Terrell Burks, director of Saline County Office of Emergency Management, said the county will try to help the families in any way they can; however, they are limited on abilities because the families live on a private drive. Burks said he also contacted the state Department of Emergency Management for assistance with the levees, but they will also be limited because of the private drive.
Burks said all roads in the county are passable now, but there is no estimate of the damage in the area. He only heard of one home that had water in it, and all evacuees have been returned to their homes. He expects there to be a damage estimate later today following a meeting with the road department, he said.
While all of the flooded roads have cleared, the Saline River still sits at flood stage, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps said the river is still rising, but it is nowhere near the highest the river has ever been. The river was nearly three times this high in 1997, they said.
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