Rains lead to flooding in Roan Mountain, Simerly Creek

Published 8:51 pm Friday, July 7, 2017

Rains that moved through the area on Thursday night into Friday morning caused some flooding of roadways and private properties.

Carter County Road Superintendant Roger Colbaugh said crews with his department had been out much of the day Friday working to clear out ditches, culverts, and roads.

The rains affected the Simerly Creek, Rittertown, Hampton, and Roan Mountain areas, Colbaugh said.

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“There have been several pipes stopped up causing water to run out into the road,” Colbaugh said. “The worst area is on Ingram Branch Road where the pipe washed out.”

Ingram Branch Road, which is located in Roan Mountain, was closed as Colbaugh and his crew worked to replace the washed out pipe. The pipe which washed out is about 48 inches in diameter and around 30 feet long, Colbaugh said.

“It took it down the creek about 200 feet and lodged it up against some trees,” Colbaugh said of the rain’s effect on the pipe.

Crews were able to recover the pipe and reinstall it. Colbaugh said they obtained some large rocks from the quarry to use to stabilize the pipe when reinstalling it.

Carter County Emergency Management Agency Director Gary Smith said flooding and damage from the rains were isolated to the area of the county around Simerly Creek, Tiger Creek, Roan Mountain, and Ingram Branch.

“Simerly Creek was hard hit,” Smith said. “Several bridges were washed out.”

Simerly Creek resident Stella Largent spoke with the Elizabethton Star on Friday morning and said several homes in her neighborhood were cut off from the road by flooded creeks and streams. Largent shared some photographs she captured of the flooding, including one depicting a yard that was so full of floodwaters that a passenger van was about half-way submerged underneath a carport.