Deluge on the Duck: Wet weather causes problems

Fisherman's Park was just for the fish Monday as the waters of the Duck River went above flood stage following a weekend that saw as much as six inches of rain in Bedford County. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Order this photo]

• T-G flood photos
• Reader-submitted flood photos

[Order this photo]

High waters, closed roads and schools, not to mention a collapsing street, were just some of the difficulties that a weekend of wet weather brought to Bedford County.

The Duck River was more than a half a foot above its flood stage of 25 feet as of Monday afternoon, at which time TVA officials had expected the waterway to crest.

Bedford County Emergency Management Agency director Scott Johnson had warned early Monday in an e-mail that the river would not crest until today and that "we could have some flooding similar to 2003."

During that flood, the level of the Duck reached an elevation of 33.46 feet, while the level peaked at 25.73 feet at 2 p.m. Monday. The river was below flood stage this morning, at 22.42 feet.

No deaths or injuries were reported due to the flooding. Only two county roads were still closed as of Tuesday morning, highway superintentant Stanley Smotherman said -- Bryant Road in Unionville and Dement Bridge on State Highway 269 between Wartrace and Normandy.

A Bedford County school bus was unable to pick up 10 children this morning in Deer Point subdivision near Unionville due to standing water, according to school superintendant Ed Gray.

There was no place for bus #11 to turn around due to the water, Grey said, and all of the parents were notified of the situation. All other buses were running normally, he said.

Businesses on South Cannon Boulevard were warned Saturday evening that flooding was possible and Save-A-Lot employees were busy Sunday moving products from the bottom shelves, city manager Ed Craig said.

Near the top

Garrison Fork was the first stream to overflow its banks early in the weekend, causing runners participating in the Strolling Jim 40 ultramarathon to add an extra mile to their course.

But the rising waters also closed 12 county roads as the weekend continued, resulting in the closing of county schools on Monday.

The heavy rain also caused the level of Normandy Lake to shoot up three feet on Saturday alone to 879.14 feet above sea level, less than a foot away from the top of the dam's gate, which resulted in TVA releasing around 8,800 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) from the reservoir.

A once-even lot now holds a small lake and visible cracks and a sidewalk is partially sunken atop an underground storm water flume off North Main Street, which collapsed Sunday night. (T-G Photo by David Melson) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The release of water led to the elevation of Normandy dropping slightly under a foot on Sunday, but even with the gates wide open, more rainfall during that day and early Monday caused the level to rise again to 878.70 feet on Monday before falling again to 876.60 feet on Tuesday morning.

According to TVA gauges, Shelbyville received 6.06 inches of rain from May 1-3, with Unionville getting 6.77 inches during the same time period.

However, Manchester received 7.41 inches of rain during the three-day period, and since that region is the source of much of the Duck River, the level of the lake continued to rise until well into Monday.

TVA also announced Monday that it would continue to spill water from the dam's gates at a rate of 8,800 cfs until noon today. It takes 18 hours for water released from the dam to reach Shelbyville.

Cause unknown

City officials are trying to figure out why an underground storm water flume that stretches under North Main Street and Cannon Boulevard collapsed Sunday.

"We don't know the cause of it," Craig said Monday morning. The flume carries water that is above the watershed basin on Madison Street to the Duck River.

With the flume running right underneath the road, neither the state or the city can allow traffic to pass over the area due to fear "that it could simply collapse," Craig said.

On Sunday, a truck was observed sitting at the stop light where the flume runs underneath and "people watched the road sink six inches," Craig said.

He began keeping an eye on the location throughout Sunday and said "it kept getting worse and worse." Cracks began to appear in the asphalt that turned into six inch gaps, which led to the closing of the street.

Rex Northcutt was the city engineer that helped to build the underground structure during the period of 1962-64, which he said is large enough to drive a two-ton truck through -- 18 feet in diameter.

Northcutt said there was a flood in 1964, similar to what occurred this weekend, that collapsed the flume, even though they had just completed the project.

"Water had come in the Spring Branch and went under the tube and caused it to collapse all the way down," Northcutt said of the 45-year-old incident.

"It will be a difficult process to uncover this because we're working on unstable ground and that can't begin until the waters subside," Craig explained. "This will be an inconvenience for quite a while."

Residents will still be able to access businesses on the closed section of the street by taking alternate routes to North Brittain Street and Delray Street, Craig said.

Not a record

The only person that hasn't been busy during the wet weekend was Doug Murphy, director of the Duck River Agency. Over the past few years, his concern has been not having enough water in the Duck to supply the region.

This past weekend changed all that.

"Who would have ever expected a wet Spring and a flood after the drought we've had," he said Monday. "The long term forecast always said this was going to be a dry period this year."

According to the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, when the Duck River reaches 25 feet, flooding occurs in low lying areas throughout the Shelbyville area.

However, if the river reaches 27.5 feet, considered a "moderate flood stage," waters would reach several businesses and Mt. Zion Baptist Church and flooding would be extensive throughout Shelbyville as backwater from the Duck River pushed smaller streams out of their banks.

At 29 feet, water would reach several garages on US Highway 231 and at 32 feet, water would reach the West Lane Baptist Church. Flood waters would reach Shelbyville Mills for the Duck River rose to 36 feet.

The highest level recorded for the Duck River was 42 feet, which was reached on March 29, 1926.