An abnormal amount of rainfall caused flooding and damage during the extended holiday weekend.
Employees of Jackson County, Newport and Tuckerman spent both Christmas and Christmas Eve barricading submerged roads throughout the area.
According to Jackson County Judge Kerry Tharpe, 15 roads were closed due to flooding and more than 60 must be repaired because of water damage. Work has already begun by Tharpe’s road crews, and he estimates the damage to be between $90,000 and $100,000.
“My people are out working, and we will get the roads repaired as soon as possible,” Tharpe said. “We are doing everything we can to fix the damage, and that’s about all we can do right now.”
Tharpe personally set up blockades and moved barriers as needed during the holiday weekend.
“I told the voters when I was running for office that I would be a working judge,” Tharpe said. “I consider it to be part of my job and my responsibility to get out and do whatever is needed of me.”
Previous precipitation already had county employees working to restore road damage.
“We recently had a rain almost as bad as this one, and it just takes awhile for the water to run off,” Tharpe said. “You have to let the water run out of the ditches before the roads will clear.”
Newport Mayor David Stewart also had submerged streets to deal with, and one particular neighborhood received more damage than others.
“Logan’s Addition was where most of the flooding occurred within the city limits,” Stewart said.
Stewart called the Red Cross on Christmas Eve to assist residents of the neighborhood who were forced from their homes by flood waters.
Flood gates were closed on Thursday due to a rise in river levels, and the city began pumping water out the day before.
“We have to run the pumps because the city sits in a bowl, and is almost completely surrounded by levees,” Stewart said.
Saturday morning timbers were placed in three seawall gates as a precautionary measure against rapidly rising river waters.
Tuckerman Mayor Everett King considers the flooding to be some of the worst he has seen in over two decades.
“It is not as bad as I have ever seen it get, but it has been more than 20 years since I’ve seen flooding like this in Tuckerman,” King said. “We had too much rainfall in too short of a time.”
According to King, the city’s rain gauges recorded 9.25 inches of precipitation, and the town was forced to close eight streets.
