In the town of North Carrollton, emergency management officials are examining a 30 foot stretch of road that was destroyed by floodwaters.
“We done closed this road off, we’re gonna barricade it. And then, later on, we’ll get some dirt and to a temporary (crossing) in here,” says Ken Strachen, Carroll County Emergency Management Director and Mayor of North Carrollton. He says within a few hours Thursday morning a culvert swelled several feet and washed out dirt from underneath the street.
He says “We had a flood back in 2019, and it done some damage, but it wasn’t this bad. We put white rock here which was used through FEMA funds that we filed then.”
As residents assessed their property for flood damage, some say the damage could have been much worse. North Carrollton resident Tom Hearn says it covered the wheels of his truck that was parked in his yard, and the waters got up to his doorstep.
Hearn says “Thank the lord it didn’t get inside. I got a shop right across the street over there, it’s just got water all the way through it. Tire shop, I mean it’s six inches of water all the way through it.”Across the street lives city Alderman Chris Givens. He says he woke up early for work right before the water reached his front doors.
“So I got up and I came to the door, and all of the sudden I saw water rushing to the house, and I thought ‘Oh my god, what is going on,’” says Givens. “So the only thing I can do is start throwing down blankets and pillows and everything at my doors to make sure that it wouldn’t come in my house, but it did get in my garage. But that was it, I was very blessed.”
Givens says when the flooding subsides, he wants to reinforce the city's water drainage systems.
