Parts of a county road has been wiped out due to rain
CHICKASAW COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) “It looked like a big lake out here,” said William Winter, Road Manager of Chickasaw County. “It had the whole road covered on both sides of Houlka Creek.”
That’s how Chickasaw County Road Manager William Winter describes the scene after several inches of rain washed parts of county road 24 away.
“It was a bad flood. When Houlka Creek gets to flooding, we get a lot of water,” said Winter. “A lot of water came through here and washed the road away, and we have had the roads completely closed for several weeks now.”
The rain pushed this gravel off to the side of the road, leaving mostly bare dirt.
The road has been closed for about three weeks, and Winter tells WCBI that means the 20 people who live out here have had to take a long detour just to get to their destinations.
“People had to go several miles out of their way,” said Winter.
The road closures also had an effect on other drivers.
“Mail carriers and school buses and all of them had to go out of their way and go around just to do their jobs,” said Winter.
Some drivers have ignored the road closure signs, causing bumpers and other car parts to get ripped off.
“The road has been in such bad shape that it has been tearing people’s vehicles up,” said Winter. “Buses could not come up and down it, and the mail carriers could not come up and down it, it was dangerous.”
Winter said it will cost about $20,000 just to get the road back to normal.
It is going to be a good chunk of money to come up with,” said Winter. “We are hoping to get help from someone, but we have not had any help yet.”
Where are y’all looking to get some of that help?
“Through maybe FEMA or something like that.”
Winter said the road did open back up on Thursday, April 10, but he is encouraging people to still use caution when traveling the road.
