Water woes
Advance fights a familiar and unwelcome intruder
No, this isn't a photo from the flood of March 2008. This shot was taken yesterday, April 27, 2011. The site is at the intersection of Highway C and Vine Street in Advance, Mo. where the city crew and volunteers are trying desperately to keep the water overflowing Stoddard County Ditch # 14 from flooding residents' homes.
After the "100-year" flood of 2008, city leaders asked the State to increase the size of their metal culvert at the Vine Street location. I stood with the group of MoDot engineers, city officials and even Senator Rob Mayer, as they discussed how to prevent another flooding situation in the future.
Advance aldermen and Mayor James Harnes asked MoDot if they could put in another horn. I remember engineers insisting that "this probably won't happen for another 100 years."
Boy, were they wrong!
The 14 inches pf rain which fell over March 18 and 19, 2008 has been matched by the 16+ inches that we've received in the last week. Every night brings another line of thunder storms, some with tornadoes, some with downpours.
After we dried up in '08, the City of Advance installed a second metal culvert 15-20 feet south of the MoDot right of way. You can see it in the photo. It helped considerably in this year's flood, but it wasn't nearly enough--so the above measures were employed.
I haven't toured the Masters' subdivision just past the tractors, so I don't know if the city's efforts were successful. I walked that subdivision with the FEMA people in '08. Most of the houses on First Sreet had damage, but none of the houses across the highway were flooded.
This year, it's worse. Yesterday I took pictures of sandbagging efforts on the corner of Tropf and Tilley Street west of the city park.
It looks as if the region needs to get ready for a 100-year flood every three or four years.
Thursday, April 28 update:
Today I found my way to the subdivision in question by driving on Cemetery Road, the only way in. First Street and the northern half of Second Street had water up in their yards. I couldn't tell if the water was in the houses.
Comments
- -- Posted by Dexterite1 on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 7:46 AM
- -- Posted by Bman69 on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 8:31 AM
- -- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 10:00 AM
- -- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 12:28 PM
- -- Posted by farmwife2 on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 1:41 PM
- -- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 6:33 PM
- -- Posted by FJGuy on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 7:34 PM
- -- Posted by Jessica613 on Thu, Apr 28, 2011, at 7:45 PM
- -- Posted by goat lady on Sat, Apr 30, 2011, at 5:56 AM
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