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A motorist drives along Larkwood Dr. Northeast Tuesday afternoon as water pours over the Lake Catoma spillway. City officials closed the bridge at the intersection of Larkwood Dr. and Convent Road as water levels rose dangerously close to spilling over the bridge. Amanda Shavers-Davis

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January 6, 2009

Extensive flooding causes road closings, school delays

By Trent Moore The Cullman Times Tue Jan 06, 2009, 11:27 PM CST

By Trent Moore

Staff Writer

Torrential rainfall caused flooding and safety hazards in several parts of Cullman County Tuesday, forcing officials to block roads and dismiss schools early.

Cullman Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Assistant Director Kelly Allen said the flooding situation was extremely serious across the county.

“We’ve received various, flooded road reports from all over the county,” he said.

According to the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, numerous roads across the county were flooded and closed throughout Tuesday afternoon and evening.

“There is a lot of water rushing over some roadways, there are pretty tough conditions out there,” Sheriff Tyler Roden said late Tuesday afternoon. “There are quite a few roads we’ve gotten reports on and there is just a lot of flooding all over the county. Conditions were very bad.”

Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail said his city also faced flooding issues.

“We’ve got water up to our elbows,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “Our park and the playground equipment is pretty well underwater, all the way up to Mud Creek. We’ve had the street department out checking drains and doing what little we could do, but there’s just nowhere for this water to go.”

Council member Joann Walls personally surveyed the city and agreed with Nail’s assessment.

“Many yards are flooded because many drains are not taking water,” Walls said.

Larkwood Bridge — at the intersection of Convent Road and Larkwood Drive in Cullman— was completely submerged underwater late Tuesday afternoon. The bridge was closed and access was cordoned off by the Cullman Police Department and Cullman Street Department.

Water Department Supervisor Junior Heaton said the flooding at the bridge was caused by an overflow of water from Lake Catoma.

“You can’t even see the bridge anymore, it’s completely underwater,” Heaton said Tuesday afternoon. “The lakes falls are running over, because of all the rain.”

Cullman Mayor Max Townson said the closing was a safety precaution.

“We don’t want to jeopardize the safety of anyone,” he said.

As of press time, Allen said the EMA had received no reports of damage from the rain and storms.

Roden added that the sheriff’s office had received no reports of injuries related to the weather.

In addition to the bridge closing and overflowing streets, all Cullman county schools were dismissed at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, because of the weather.

Cullman County Board of Education Superintendent Hank Allen said the decision was made due to flooding on routes traveled by school buses.

“Some secondary roads were becoming impassable,” he said. “The EMA (Emergency Management Agency) notified us about that, due to the flooding.”

Due to continued rain, all county schools will be delayed by two hours today, with classes beginning at 10 a.m. School bus routes will also run two hours late.

Superintendent Allen said school bus routes Tuesday afternoon during the storm went well, noting there were no major issues.

“We had a few minor problems with water covering the roads, but we were able to reroute the buses and get all of the children home safely,” he said.

All Cullman City Schools ran as scheduled Tuesday, and should not be delayed today.

“We will be running our regular schedule,” Cullman City Schools Superintendent Jan Harris said.

National Weather Service (NWS) Meteorologist Mike Coyne said rainfall was very heavy throughout Tuesday afternoon, as a flash flood warning was issued by the NWS for Cullman County for the majority of Tuesday evening, continuing on into the night.

“We had three inches as of Tuesday morning, and there will probably be at least two more inches as heavy rainfall continues Tuesday night,” he said.

Coyne said weather for the remainder of the week should be less severe.

“It should be clearing overnight Tuesday once the front passes,” he said. “We should see an end to the heavy rainfall after that ... We may even see some sunshine on Thursday.”

Even once the rain stops, Allen said the local EMA is still concerned about potential flooding problems that could continue today and beyond.

“What we’re seeing now are flash floods,” he said. “But, once the rain stops and runoff from the creeks begin, the water could still continue to rise. I’m not really sure what tomorrow holds.”

‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.

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Extensive flooding causes road closings, school delays

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