Big Road Repair Bill Coming After Henry Co. Flooding
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PARIS, Tenn. – Weekend storms completely flooded 20 roads in Henry county and devastated multiple communities. Ronald Watkins the Henry County Director of Emergency Services helped rescue eighteen people from their homes. “Just a rough estimate I’d say somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 worth of damage alone to our county roads,” Watkins said. Jackson Drive was completely submerged in the weekend storms. Watkins said the entire mobile home community will need to be replaced. Residents that live here said they heard the rain and checked outside and 10 minutes later the water had risen to four and a half feet. Tay Smikles’ family lost everything in the flooding . She said she was trying to help her 7-year-old son understand. “He wanted to know why God didn’t answer prayers. He thought he didn’t,” she said. Watkins said the county is only beginning to clean up the storm damage and realize the financial toll. He said many of the county’s roads are still completely underwater. But he is mainly concerned with helping the dislocated families. “Its a tough loss and I feel for them and hopefully we can continue to find them some help,” Watkins said. For the Smikles, their only worry is trying to make it to tomorrow and say the out pour of support is helping them do just that. “It means the world to me that somebody actually cares,” Smikles said. Donations for the affected families are being collected at the Paris Salvation Army.
