Jackson Battles Street Floods
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Almost three inches of rain has fallen at McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport Monday, making it the most rain that has ever fallen on December 5. Bemis resident Vicki Starnes was up all night worrying about the rain, after her home and property were damaged in the floods two years ago. “I’m worried every time it rains down here, especially when it rains like this because I’ve gotten flooded out before and I’m sure it’s going to happen again,” Starnes said. And though the rain was not as bad as it was in May 2010, the Jackson Street Department is still keeping busy, taking calls from residents as early as 4, Sunday afternoon. “The ditches can’t handle the water right now and it’s just like putting water in a cup. You put too much, you have to get some out of it to get it to go down,” said Percy Jones of the Jackson Street Department. Officials said they handle the calls as they come in, and of course take the emergency calls first. They have had to close several streets, unclog drains and clean up ditches. They said fallen leaves are a big reason they have had to clean out so many drains. “They roll into the drain. It’s fall, the leaves fall off the trees in the streets and in the gutters, so that’s filling those up,” Jones said. Workers said they have had crews from three different departments out working. “If we have any problem areas that need to be taken care of later we’ll make a note and send it to our storm water department and they can take care of it for any flooding that may happen later on sometime,” said Buddy Crick of the Jackson Street Department. Crick added that they also have to keep an eye on the inlets where there are a lot of trees since they have been clogged up by the leaves.
