Danner Signs Disaster Declaration

Overton County Executive Ben Danner signed a State of Emergency Declaration Friday.

Danner said he made the decision based on recent weather events and forecasted weather from the National Weather Service.

“We’ve had several roads washed out and flooded,” Danner said. “The pond up at the intersection and 4 way market is up to capacity right now. The National Weather Service has told us that we have 7 to 10 inches more of rain coming. We went ahead and declared a state of emergency so we could get help from TEMA to try to get pumps up here to lower the pond.”

Record rainfall caused Dillon Pond to flood this time last year at Highway 111 and Highway 52. Danner said hes hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s flooding event.

“We’ve got quite a bit of work to do, and declaring this disaster is the first steps in getting help from TEMA and FEMA,” Danner said. “The county and the city don’t have pumps big enough to pump that pond. We want to start doing that so we can get that water down beforethis next rain hits.”

Danner said he’s expecting the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to send a team to Overton County by the end of Friday.

“I’ve already contacted TEMA Director Patrick Sheehan,” Danner said. “They’re in the process of getting some people on the ground to come up here. We’ll probably have some movement on getting some pumps up here within the next day.”

Wednesday night and Thursday morning rainfall flooded about 35 roads throughout the county.