Courtroom, office flooded in Newton County

Jerry Carter has lived in Newton County almost all of his life, and he said this morning he has never seen a flood like the one that took over Newton and McDonald counties Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

According to the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, nearly five inches of rain fell on the region in a 36-hour period, causing massive flooding throughout the two-county area.

"I have never seen it like this," said Carter, presiding commissioner of Newton County.

On Wednesday, workers with the Newton County Courthouse in downtown Neosho were busy pumping water out of the basement, where Judge Greg Stremel's courtroom and office are located.

"It is a problem we have had a couple of times recently, and I think we have had it fixed but I think this flood is more like a 25- or 50-year flood," Carter said. "The drains leaving the courthouse just won't handle the water. So, when the water goes under the courthouse and into our pumps and our drains, somewhere in the system it just won't handle that load. Yes, it is damaged. We will have to have new carpet, and some of the walls replaced. We can do it. The judge has been very patient with us, but we are going to have to do something. We may have to relocate that courtroom."

Carter said the flooding problem in the basement was noticed in the middle of the night Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

"There was just nothing we could do about it," Carter said. "They are drying it up today."

Carter said there is "substantial" damage to many roads and bridges throughout the county.

"Mainly, most of our bridges are just clogged, and that will take a lot of cleaning," he said. "We are going to start keeping track of our labor and materials, and we are satisfied that the (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is going to help us with this again. We will start cleaning this up. We wish we could get to people quicker. We are going to work overtime, and get to as many people as we can, as fast as we can."

Carter said damage to roads and bridges is throughout the county, and not just concentrated in one area.

"Shoal Creek over by Granby was up really huge, as were all the feeding branches and streams," Carter said. "FEMA and those folks have been very helpful for us. I have been satisfied that they are going to come in and help us. We are confident we can handle it, and get it cleaned up. It is just tragic if any livestock or property was lost."

The Newton County Commission met this morning to discuss flood clean-up procedures. Carter said the county's maintenance crews will start with the worst bridges and roads first, and move down from there in the clean-up process.

Lee Booyer, supervisor of the cleanup process for Newton County, said crews were out this morning. He said his crews today are gathering material, such as gravel and road surfacing, and starting to replace roads that were washed away.

"We will get gravel back on them, and grate them," said Booyer of the roads. "On some of the asphalt that has come off, we will replace it with our coal mix. In some places, there is just a sinkhole left. We will have to refill them, and get it passable. We just want to try to get everything passable, and then improve (the roads) when we get that done."

Booyer said the area south of D Highway around Granby is in bad shape, as is Reindeer Road in the Granby area.

"Some of those roads are impassable right now," he said.

Neosho Daily News