Bradley County: Stormwater work pays off

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Millions of dollars spent on stormwater control paid off during Tuesday’s downpours, local officials said Wednesday.

Despite more than 4.5 inches of rain in 24 hours, a series of retention ponds and other flood-control measures built mostly with federal grant dollars did their jobs. Bradley County came through the 24-hour heavy rain soggy but with little damage, according to the county Emergency Management Agency.

“The minimal amount of property damage and flooding of residents’ homes shows that the new guidelines for stormwater runoff and retention systems are paying off,” Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis said. “We can now see the benefit of these programs, which have resulted in less property damage today than what occurred in similar rainfalls 20 years ago.”

A 10 million-gallon overflow tank built beside Mouse Creek Road was brimful Wednesday morning and its pumps were shut off, said Craig Mullinax, manager of Cleveland Utilities’ Water Division.

“Our system is just so full the tank could only handle the 10 million gallons,” he said.

Last year, the city built large flood control ponds near the Whirlpool plant on Ninth Street to protect homes and industries. Officials reported no problems from that area as well.

Officials with Cleveland’s public works department said most local street flooding was due to leaves piling up and blocking drains.

Troy Spence with the Bradley County Emergency Management Agency reported that 25 roads were barricaded overnight but reopened Wednesday. At one point 3 feet of water was reported on Dockery Street at the railroad crossing. There were six reports of cars stalled in high water and two reports of minor water damage in homes.

“Our concern now that the ground is saturated is that high winds may cause some large trees to fall,” Mr. Spence said.

Elsewhere in Southeast Tennessee, water that covered city and rural roads in Meigs, McMinn, Rhea and Polk counties overnight drained away with little damage by Wednesday.

In Rhea County, areas that flooded in the past from water drainage off the Cumberland Plateau escaped any major problems. Graysville City Clerk Tracy Pankey said area streams did not breach their banks.

Some roads were closed and trees downed throughout the region.

In Athens, Tenn., Public Works Director Shawn Lindsey said several retention ponds are doing their job of keeping stormwater corralled.

McMinn Emergency Management Agency Director Betty Hamby said officials recorded just under 5 inches of rain from the drenching weather system.

“It gave us a good chance to go by all of the detention ponds to see how they are working,” Mr. Lindsey said. “A few need a little work, but most worked like they are supposed to.”

He said a pond near the Tennessee Wesleyan campus kept homes from flooding, and water didn’t rise at the former Athens Supply property downtown that used to be inundated regularly.

Correspondent Ron Clayton contributed to this report.