POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — High water on the Ohio River this week has slowed efforts to make emergency repairs to an area in Point Pleasant which is critical to the town’s flood protection system.
During last week’s heavy rainfall and flooding, Crooked Creek ran high and caused the mouth of the man-made stream to wash out on both sides where it enters the Ohio River. The saturated ground gave way and several acres slid into the river leaving the bank extremely unstable.
Jeremy Bryant, the director of emergency services in Mason County said the repairs are in the cue, but weather conditions have to be right. The Ohio River is running too high and swift to get equipment in place now.
“They’re going to come in and be able to dredge it out and get the trees and that kind of stuff out of there first, then they’ll go in and re-stabilize the bank with stone. That process is already in the works, it’s just going to be a matter of time,” Bryant explained.
The creek passes through a tunnel into the river which goes under the CSX railroad. A side track nearest the river has been closed due to the situation, but the main line through Point Pleasant remains open.
Crooked Creek was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when the city’s flood wall was put into place. It’s the key waterway for storm water to drain out of Point Pleasant. That’s why Bryant said getting the area repaired is so critical to public safety.
“If we have any further flooding, it could cause more damage there. But not only that, if it shuts off that creek, then it shuts off a lot of the drainage in the city and could back up and cause a lot of problems here in Point Pleasant,” he said.
The work will be handled by a dredging company, but overseen by the Corps of Engineers, CSX, and the county’s Office of Emergency Services.