Dyersburg business builds levees
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DYERSBURG, Tenn. — The city of Dyersburg was under a flood watch Friday, and a family owned business said they invested in a special defense against the rising water. Company officials behind Clark Distributing in south Dyersburg said the 2010 and 2011 floods partially submerged their business, and they didn’t have flood insurance. “You get a 500-year flood, and all of the sudden you’re in the flood plane,”said sales manager Mike Belvis. “We do have flood insurance now.” The next year, Belvis’ family came up with a solution with approval from the city and designing expertise from engineers — levees. At the cost of $200,000, the company built a system of levees around the property. High mounds of dirt direct water down, and it is then filtered out to lower ground away from the property. “It would definitely pay off because of the way they’ve constructed it,” said Mark Grant, Director of Dyersburg Emergency Operations. “It should protect their business from any flood.” Grant said the flood warning should be over by the middle of next week.
