News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Monterey nears completion of a blue line stream map that will help with future flooding.
A blue line stream means that a waterway appears as a blue line on federal maps. Town Grant Writer Dawn Kupferer said the map will help prevent future construction in flood prone areas, which has been a common issue in Monterey.
“We have to address this issue, because Monterey can’t continue to grow unless it can address the issues with flooding,” Kupferer said. “Because no business is going to want to build something and then, it floods.”
Kupferer said she aims to present the map in February to the Board of Aldermen. Then, the town will work on prioritizing projects to better mitigate flooding.
“Every single person that sits on that Board of Aldermen knows this, and they are trying their best to find a way to fix it but this is an expensive process,” Kupferer said. “If we were to address the main blue line stream issue now where we have flooding, we are looking at a million dollars.”
Kupferer said Monterey has requested two applications, one from FEMA and one from TEMA, for funding assistance to rework the water. Kupferer said the main stream in question runs from Home Run Road to Railroad Avenue until it reaches private property.
“You can tell if we just have a small rain event where it is because it floods right at the amphitheater,” Kupferer said. “There’s a nice low spot there and that’s one of the worse flooding areas. That’s just the blue line stream itself. We have mapped most of the other watersheds that feed into this blue line stream.”
Monterey has for decades fought flooding issues. Kupferer said in the early years, building codes were not followed, which made the situation worse. Due to this, flooding has been a major issue the past 10 years.
