Areas of Carter County damaged by heavy rainfall, flooding
Published 4:55 pm Friday, August 20, 2021
By Nic Miller
1 of 23
Star Photo/Nic MillerHorselog Branch Creek running parallel to Liberty Hollow Road in Stoney Creek rose to high levels on Friday, sending water onto the roadway.
Star Photo/Nic MillerWater rushing on Liberty Hollow Road in Stoney Creek spilled onto the opposite side of the roadway, destroying a fence and flooding a yard.
Star Photo/Nic MillerWater spilling onto the Liberty Hollow Road from Horselog Branch Creek in Stoney Creek sent debris and high water levels into property owners' yards on Friday.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersRoad Superintendent Roger Colbaugh had every available piece of equipment out early Friday morning to start on the road repair from the flooding, with even snowplows out to move debris from the roadways. All traffic was closed to Peters and Liberty Hollow until about 11 a.m. The water still is heavy on Liberty Hollow Road and both roads are closed in areas where they have been washed away. Water lines are busted, pipes washed to the end of the road, and electricity was out for over five hours. The power has been restored.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersPeters Hollow Road in front ofC.Y. Peters' home at 4a.m. Friday morningas it was all water and no road.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersWater could be found in many yards Friday morning at the crack of dawn.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersRolling water that resembles a stream flows down a roadway.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersRocks end up in the road in front of Joan Carr's home.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersRoad or creek... No one was sure where one started and the other one ended.
Photo Contributed/CY Peters
Photo Contributed/CY PetersThe main road was washed away in front of the Shankles home in Liberty Hollow.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersLawrence Hardin's home.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersKeith Wilson wading the water at his house in Liberty Hollow where the water went under his house.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersHome of Norman Peters where they host the Peters Hollow Egg Fight.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersA home in Liberty Hollow still flooding at noon Friday.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersHalfway up Liberty Hollow Road.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersThe Colbaugh family lost half of their yard.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersNothing but a crumbled road remains near Buford Peters' home.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersA bridge to Jerry Peters' house was washed away with several other bridges.
Photo Contributed/CY PetersA bridge that is about to collapse leading to Union Hill Church.
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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com
With heavy rainfall hitting Northeast Tennessee over the past few days due to tropical Storm Fred making landfall earlier this week, parts of Carter County have been ravaged by high waters and flooding.
With yards flooded and roadways covered with water and debris, enough damage was done to shut down Carter County Schools on Friday due to the dangerous conditions.
Local work crews such as the Carter County Highway Department and the Carter County Emergency Management Agency were hard at work from the early parts of Friday all the way into the evening.
Roger Colbaugh of the Carter County Highway Department spoke on just how severe the flooding and water damage was throughout the county, saying, “The areas that were hit the hardest were from Dry Hollow Road to Grindstaff Road in Stoney Creek, which includes Peters Hollow and Liberty Hollow.”
“This morning, there was water on every one of those roads, but since we have begun working on the roadways water only remains on Grindstaff Road and Liberty Hollow.”
However, the damage is much more significant than high water levels, as Colbaugh explained the underlying issues with the roads affected.
“On every one of the roads that were affected there is pipe damage, and the culverts that go under the roads in some spaces have either been filled with rock or have collapsed. Along with that, we have places on every single one of these roads where the shoulders have washed away and many of the creeks are filled with debris. It’s going to be a pretty extensive amount of work that will need to be done.”
Calls about the damaged and flooded roadways were coming in all day on Friday, and Colbaugh stated that the first crew to begin work was out before the sun.
“At 5 o’clock we had a few men out on the roads, and at 6 we sent out some more. Eventually, around 8 or 9 o’clock we had full crews out there attempting to clear water off the roadways and repair them.
Colbaugh says that crews from the Highway Department will be working on these damaged areas over the next few weeks.
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