Chuck Berry
Berry’s Tree Farm
Fortunately we did not have any structural or crop damage due to the flooding. The Berry family has been farming on the banks of the Yellow River for over 100 years and only a few times has the river and our pond become one body of water. This is significant in that the river is over 100-yards away and over 20-feet below the dam of the pond. We can only hope at this point that there was no damage to the integrity of the dam. We are waiting for waters to recede to evaluate further.
According to my Granddaddy, C.H. Berry Jr, this is the worst flooding he has seen in our area in his 85 years. Never has there been a time that he can recall when the waters covered so much property.
All of our structures and Christmas trees are high enough that the flood waters did not reach them. I am sure that some fish from the river and the pond swapped habitats during the flood though.
Sherri Bolton
Flat Shoals Road
We weren’t negatively affected by the flood waters. We don’t drive that section of our road on any regular basis – we come and go from the other direction. We do have one neighbor that could not access his driveway during this flood but I have not heard him express any ill feelings. The water just started going down today [Friday] so we hope he will be able to drive to his home by tomorrow night. It’s going to be a muddy mess though, I’m sure.
The county did extensive work on Channing Cope Road probably six or seven years ago because of regular flooding issues. They raised the roadway 19 or 20 feet. The water has gotten close to the top since then but has never gone over it until now. A school bus uses this road, believe it or not, so I’m sure they will need to make sure it’s fairly safe for future use.
There was a young man driving, probably in his teens, with an older man in the passenger seat who drove a pickup truck around the barricade to try their luck making it across. When they came by me after making it across they had big smiles on their faces and I told them they had an angel riding with them whether they realized it or not. Action that was not worth the risk.
Valerie Dean Savage
Porterdale
I live two to three blocks from the Yellow River and I could hear it getting louder so I knew it was going to be bad but I did not know how bad until I went down there to see for myself. I have seen it bad but never this bad. The traffic was bad through Porterdale because everyone was stopping at the bridge to take pictures and just looking.
At first it was amazing to look at but then I started hearing about it coming up over the roads, then the road closings and I knew then it was bad. My home sits on a hill so I was not worried for my home, just everyone else that lives so close to the river.
