Torrential rains caused widespread flooding in Estill County again on Friday, the third round of flooding within a couple of months.
While there was no major damage, there is a lot of cleaning up to be done, said Estill County Judge-executive Wallace Taylor.
“Water covered a lot of roads and a lot of culverts were stopped up,” he said, noting that road crews are also having to clean up a few slipped banks.
At least four inches of rain fell on the county in the hours before daylight on Friday morning, causing many streams to run wild and jump ditches as culverts became clogged with leaves, debris and rocks.
Taylor said he has lived on the river all his life, but he’s never seen it raise that quickly. He also said it would be at least two weeks before county culverts are cleared.
County crews worked on Good Friday and on Saturday.
Local water companies have seen some erosion around water lines, but there have been no major problems such as those that were experienced after the snow storms in March.
Schools were forced to close because of road closures and flooding at one of the elementarys.
Estill Springs Elementary’s green wing flooded, with two or three inches of water standing in four classrooms and the hallway.
ESE Principal Jessica Mullins said staff from all the schools in the district came to help with clean-up.
She also said Billy “Bee” Williams came on Good Friday with a backhoe to clear some drain areas behind the school, which helped the waters to quickly recede.
Mullins said water tends to run toward the building, instead of away, and it came down so fast on Friday morning that staff was not able to keep ahead of it.
The school has experienced flooding on four occasions since it was built in 1988, said Mullins.