The recent rains have left more than soggy spirits behind.

They left over a $1 million in damages to Campbell County’s infrastructure.

TOP PHOTO:  This is a February 23rd mudslide that completely blocked Ivydale Road.

Last week, Campbell County Road Superintendent Ron Dilbeck sent the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) a $1.4 million estimate for the damage inflicted to area roads. That number is a “rough estimate,” according to Dilbeck.

With “numerous slides” that occurred in the county and water still standing in many areas, Dilbeck said there is still damage yet to be discovered. Flooding along the lake banks that seeped onto the roads presented road crews with a dilemma; crews had no way to determine that damage. “We were just at TVA’s mercy,” Dilbeck said last week.

At one point in the days’ long rain, there were 14 county roads under water. Dilbeck pointed out that the standing water was nothing to be trifled with. “We aren’t talking about a foot of water,” he said. “Some of those roads had six to eight feet of water across them.”

While some lake areas still had standing water as recent as the weekend, those spots weren’t the ones sustaining the most damage. The higher elevation seemed to endure the most destruction. Dilbeck attributes the damage to the run off those roads saw.

River Road across Caryville Mountain was one of the more treacherous spots. “We basically lost half that road,” Dilbeck said.

In an effort to gauge the damage and secure funds for repairs, Dilbeck met with TEMA and soil conservation officials last week. As a state, Tennessee declared an emergency, however, all of the numbers will need to be tallied before it’s known if the damage is enough to secure federal funds. Dilbeck feels certain the threshold will be reached.

Once the funds are available, he is also certain that road crews “have months of work ahead of us.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/11/2019-6AM)

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