|
By David
Fisher
Staff
Reporter |
Storms dumped over four inches of rain in some areas of the
region this past week, resulting in widespread flooding,
which caused some road closings and even some schools to
close early.
Schools closings early on Friday, included: McNairy county
schools - 11:00 a.m.; Hardin county schools - 11:30 a.m.;
Jackson-Madison county schools - High Schools - 1:00 p.m.
and Middle Schools - 2:00 p.m. However, this did not affect
Weakley County Schools, because they were already closed for
spring break.
Due to the heavy downpour, a flash flood watch was put in
effect through Friday night for Carroll, Chester, Crockett,
Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Henry, Hardeman, Haywood,
Henderson, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, Obion and Shelby,
Tipton, and Weakley counties.
According to the National Weather Service out of Memphis, it
has been a wetter than average month and year, thus far.
Approximately four-inches of rain fell in Weakley County
since midnight last Wednesday. Rainfall for the entire month
of April in the area measures approximately five-inches. And
roughly 25-inches of rain has fallen since January 1, 2008.
According to Weakley County Highway Department Supervisor
Kermit Hopper, the high water closed several roads
including: Stafford’s Store Road at the water shed lake,
Jane’s Mill Road, Miller Road, Reed’s Road, Wingo Levee,
Shades Bridge Road and Sprouts Levee. He added that there
were also several partially flooded roads that were
passable, where water covered the road on one side or the
other.
Hopper stated that culverts on Old Bethel and Matheny roads
were partially washed out and county road crews refilled
around the culvert in order to repair the damaged roadway.
Also, a culvert on Hobbs Road, which was rusty with age,
collapsed during the flooding and had to be replaced.
Hopper noted that five road employees worked over the
weekend to identify where flooded roads were located. These
workers set up barriers and placed tape across these flooded
roads to warn motorists not to pass. Also, a backhoe
operator was called in to remove debris washed over the
roadways, as needed, including a couple of downed trees.
However, by the end of the day on Monday, or Tuesday at the
latest, everything should be back to normal, Hopper
commented.
Hopper stated that he had to caution some motorists not to
drive through water standing over roadways because of the
obvious danger. He said that since motorists can’t see below
the surface of the water, they have no way of knowing if the
culvert is washed out or not. Also, the depth of the water
cannot be determined, and it doesn’t take much of a current
to wash a vehicle off the road. He said that one individual
told him that he was startled when he took a chance on
driving through standing water and almost lost control of
his vehicle. He stated that the person would probably not be
taking such a risk in the future, considering the close call
he had.
Considering the amount of rain received and the magnitude of
the flooding problem, as well as the potentially hazardous
driving conditions caused by rising water levels this past
week, Hopper said, “We were blessed. It could have been a
lot worse. It could have caused a lot of damage.” He stated
as far as he knew, there were no injuries caused by flooded
roadways.
Weakley County Municipal Electric System Director Faron
Collins stated that the lighting storms last week resulted
in approximately five or six power transformers having to be
replaced. Collins stated that there was also some scattered
wind damage, but there was no major damage to the electrical
system. At most, Collins stated that there might have been
200-300 electrical customers who temporarily lost power as a
result of the storms.
(Check out the rest of this story in this
week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)
