From Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine: Importance: High As expected the local rivers continue to rise but the rate of rise has slowed substantially. The Withlacoochee River at Skipper Bridge is just over 17 feet this morning and is expected to crest at around 17 ½ feet later today or this evening. Of course as mentioned in earlier updates it will still take about 48 hours for that crest to move completely through Lowndes County and down into Florida. The Little River just West of Hahira on Hwy 122 is also slightly above 17 feet but is expected to rise a little more than the Withlacoochee due to higher rainfall totals occurring to the West. The gauge at Adel appears to be close to cresting but it has still risen close to a foot over the last 24 hours. We should expect to see close to an additional 1 ½ - 2 feet at the Little River gauge. This would produce a crest of close to 19 feet which is Minor Flood stage. The bridge over Franks Creek on Shiloh Road was closed Saturday afternoon but fortunately the water level in the creek has dropped enough to allow inspectors to assess it in order to make sure no damage has occurred and it is safe to drive across. Based on this information if inspectors clear it then Lowndes County Engineering hopes to be able to open the bridge later today. If/when the bridge is reopened we will pass that information along. Fortunately, we do not anticipate any additional bridge closures in the northern portion of the county. A crest of 19 feet would likely cause some flooding to a few local roads such as Little River Rd and Wells Rd but no disruption is expected to any other major thoroughfares and these 2 roads only affect 2-3 residences as far as ingress and egress is concerned. No flooding of homes or businesses is expected at any location throughout Lowndes County. Further downstream as the Little River and Withlacoochee merge together the Hwy 84 stream gauge is currently reading just over 21 ½ feet. The combined upstream crests from both rivers will likely produce a crest of around 24 feet later in the week at the Hwy 84 location. This crest is harder to gauge since it is affected by two different rivers and can fluctuate based on the timing of when each crest arrives. If they both arrive at roughly the same time then obviously the crest would be higher than if they pass through at separate times. The forecast of 24 feet is based on a “middle of the road” scenario where the Withlacoochee crest arrives slightly ahead of the Little River but is not completely gone by the time the second surge hits. A worst case scenario could put the crest at up to 26 feet but this does not seem likely based on current information. For perspective purposes the Hwy 84 gauge crested at 31 ½ feet last March during the last flooding event so even if the crest ends up being higher than projected there is still a lot of room before we get to that point. There are several flood prone areas that will need to be monitored this week south of the Hwy 84 bridges but the main ones are Jumping Gully Road and Clyattville-Nankin Rd. Both of these locations were several feet underwater last March but again, this would affect travel routes only and no residential or business structures should be impacted. If detours are necessary we will provide that information when the roads are closed. I urge everyone to continue monitoring local conditions until water levels return to normal and the threat of flooding is gone. Fortunately there is no substantial rainfall in the forecast for the next 7 days which will allow things to begin drying out and give crews time to begin repairing any damage that has occurred to local roads and other infrastructure. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need any assistance. Links to real time Withlacoochee River at Skipper Bridge water.weather.gov/resources/hydrographs/vdsg1_hg.png Withlacoochee River at Hwy 84 water.weather.gov/resources/hydrographs/qutg1_hg.png Little River at Hwy 122 water.weather.gov/resources/hydrographs/hrag1_hg.png Ashley Tye Director
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 23:50:05 +0000
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