MILTON Ƶ Approximately 30 homes, ball fields and the old elementary school were affected by flooding in Milton over the weekend.
While flooding in Milton is not a rarity, Mayor Shane Evans said itƵs still devastating for all of the homes affected. The constant rain last week caused creek beds to overflow into the city, once again flooding the residents of Church Street.
Members of the Milton Volunteer Fire Department and Evans took to the flooded streets Saturday to pump a majority of the water up to U.S. 60, using fire department and city pumps. However, before efforts by the department could fully succeed, water filled homes and basements.
The VFD and Evans tried pumping the flood water for several hours. According to the cityƵs flood water marker, the water rose about 10 feet, Evans said.
Dale Martin, safety officer with Milton VFD, said 30-40 cleaning kits were handed out to affected residents, which included several buckets of bleach, hand sanitizer and other supplies. The fire department gathered much of the debris and put it in piles, which the city later disposed of, he said.
The flooding has now receded. The town is currently having its spring cleanup, which Evans said is great timing, as the city will pick up any debris and other items that residents need hauled off.
Martin said no accidents were reported during the flooding. The VFD had a water rescue on standby, if needed, he said.
Evans said flooding has occurred in Milton since he was a child. He described it as an Ƶongoing battle.Ƶ
Evans said flooding will not lessen in Milton until a floodwall, which has been in the works for many years, is built. Evans said the project is currently at 60% of the engineering phase and the city will soon have its 85% completion meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Huntington branch. Evans said he is unsure of an exact date and time of the meeting but will notify residents when one is set.
Once the engineering phase is complete, the corps will start buying homes for the project.
The proposed floodwall consists of an earthen levee with sections of concrete floodwall built along the Mud River, according to plans shared last year. The upstream end of the project will be around 84 Lumber in Milton. The downstream tie-in will be near the Cooper Family Farm corn maze and will end near the Gables development.
Once the levee and floodwall mix are built, the chances of areas in the central business district flooding in any given year Ƶ which is currently very high Ƶ would significantly decrease, project manager Brian Lowe said last year. The floodwall/levee is being designed to bring MiltonƵs chance of flooding in a given year down to 0.4%.
The floodwall would take years to complete. In the meantime, Evans said he is looking into other preventative measures.
The Ona Milton Little League also flooded for the second time this year, a day before opening for the season, Ona Milton Little League vice president Chris Wallace said.
Three feet of water flooded its concession stand, and other damages occurred. The Little League lost a few coolers and anything else too heavy to move. Wallace said the organization had good community response and attracted 42 to 60 volunteers. The field is mostly clean; however, the concession stand is still not fully up and running.
The Little League will have a celebration in the near future to start the season.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
