On Saturday, April 12, a family exits an SUV along Water Street and French Island Trail in Newburgh.
They stop and gape at the swollen Ohio River. Others regard and take photos of the floodwater covering French Island Trail which is blocked from through traffic. The River crested Friday at 50.6 feet — the highest since 1975.
Town Administrator Chris Cooke said there was almost no flood damage due to the event.
“Not one business had to close because of this event, which is historic in its own right,” he said.
“The town experienced a lot of traffic, and I hope that our local businesses were able to capture some of those folks that were here to get a once in a lifetime shot along the river.”
On Saturday the atmosphere is almost festive. A busker performs covers near Merida Mediterranean Restaurant, whose lower outdoor seating is under water.
Flood debris sits near sandbags protecting the condos right on the river. Cooke said Newburgh is different from Evansville in that there is no levee system, and he doesn’t feel one is needed.
“We sit up about six to eight feet higher than the Evansville area does,” he said. “So we're protected mainly by our dam, then our stormwater projects that are in town. That's why you didn't see as much flooding in the town of Newburgh as you would have seen elsewhere, like on the west side of Evansville, or within other river communities.”
“Considering this is one of the most historic floods in the past 100 years that this community has ever faced, there were some challenges, but I think we fared pretty well, considering the alternative.”
While an almost harmless flooding event, Cooke said they’re already working to improve their response to projected flooding.
“We're continuing to take the notes that we had from this historic rain to see what area opportunities there are,” he said. They plan to change how they’ll distribute sandbags.
During this recent event, they made the bags available at the Town Hall, which created a traffic bottleneck.
“We decided that going forward, the volunteer fire department probably makes a better. Location, because our teams can be bringing the sandbags in at the same time people are picking them up …”
They also need to make their road closure signs more visible. Cooke learned that a government can’t communicate enough with residents regarding these weather events — and going “overkill” on communication is OK.
“Because so many people receive their news in so many different ways,” Cooke said. “We utilize text lists, email lists, social media, traditional news, non traditional news. We kind of tried to hit it on all sides.”
Other improvements will be done with better infrastructure like replacing older sections of failing stormwater pipe that forms a major stormwater artery through the town. They plan to spend about $100,000 on such projects this year.
Cooke said they’re identifying sites right now.
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