News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County officials are surveying flood damage from last week’s storms as high water begins to recede.
County Executive Ben Danner estimates the total costs from flood damages are between $200,000 and $300,000.
“We’re in the process of doing assessments and gathering information to help see if the Governor (Bill Lee) has enough to declare a disaster to ask the President for assistance,” Danner said. “We’ve had two declarations for floods, a tornado, and an ice storm – not counting this – in the last 20 years. We’ve got a lot of personnel that’s gone through this a lot and knows how to get those numbers together.”
Flooding closed access to Bradford Hicks Drive between Highway 52 and Preston Street in Livingston after heavy rainfall hit the region last week. Highway 52 was also closed for a few days as flood waters blocked access to one of the city’s busiest intersections.
Danner said although both roads have since been reopened, other roadways in the county will need repaired.
“The main thing is, we’ve got most of the roads open now, [but] Cedar Chapel Road up in the Dry Hollow area slid off and had some mudslides,” Danner said. “It’s going to be a long-range deal to be able to fix that road back and costly. The main damage was from the flooding.”
Danner declared a state of emergency for Overton County February 21 after the first round of severe weather last week.
Danner said additional rainfall near the Highway 52 and Bradford Hicks intersection could have caused even more issues.
“We were worried because the main substation for Upper Cumberland Electric is across the road from that pond [near the intersection],” Danner said. “If water had got up another three foot it would have got up in that substation, and we would have had major power outages. So we just tried to help the city keep pumping that water and keep the power on.”
State Representative John Mark Windle and State Senator Paul Bailey have written to Governor Lee asking him to request assistance from President Donald Trump regarding the flood damages.
