Flooding forces evacuations, rescues
Several homes were evacuated during the overnight hours Sunday into Monday, and county schools were closed Monday, due to flood waters after rain-swollen creeks finally left their banks on the heels of several days of rain.
By Sunday night, rain had been falling off-and-on for more than four days, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a flood watch for the area. As moderate rainfall began to fall with yet another low pressure system trekking across the southeastern U.S., the NWS issued a flood advisory for Scott and Morgan counties. As the rainfall intensified, it didn’t take long for local creeks and rivers to reach flood stage. That kept local law enforcement and other emergency personnel busy through much of the night, and prompted county schools to cancel classes on Monday.
Sheriff Anthony Lay said that around seven deputies, along with himself and Chief Deputy Bobby Ellis, began evacuating some residences around 11:30 p.m. Sunday evening, and continuing through 4 a.m. Monday morning. In all, between 20 and 25 people were evacuated in the south Oneida, Paint Rock, Winfield and Robbins areas, with the Rescue Squad and 7th District Volunteer Fire Department using boats to reach some residents on O&W Road.
Scott County Director of Schools Sharon Wilson said the decision to close schools Monday was based on recommendations from both local law enforcement and road department supervisors after several roadways were reported covered in water and others left covered with debris.
“As always, these are tough calls, but our buses cover many, many miles in this county, so we take every precaution to make sure that conditions are as safe as possible for transporting students,” Wilson said.
The normal flood-prone areas — including Pine Creek along O&W Road, Straight Fork Creek on the east end of the county and Wolf Creek in Elgin — were submerged in water for at least a period of time overnight. By the time the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River crested at mid-morning Monday, the normal flow of 1,000-to-2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) had increased to 44,000 cfs.
By dawn on Monday, the worst of the flood waters had receded, leaving damage to several roads in flood-prone areas. Crews from both the Scott County Road Department and the Town of Oneida’s Street Department were busy Monday morning removing debris from roadways.
As on-and-off rain showers continued, however, small mud and rock slides became a bigger issue. In the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area, a miniature “mud slide” on State Hwy. 297 limited traffic into and out of the gorge to one lane for part of the morning as National Park Service crews removed debris from the road. Later in the day, U.S. Hwy. 27 in Oneida was partially blocked at the “top of the 4-Lane” by a small mud slide. As rain continued on Tuesday, Low Gap Road was partially blocked by a mud slide.
Several area creeks were nearing flood stage again Tuesday morning, including Black Creek in Robbins and Wolf Creek in Elgin.
As of the Independent Herald’s Tuesday press time, there was little relief in sight for sloppy and soggy Scott County. Forecasters were predicting another three-to-four inches of rain by tomorrow (Friday).