Flood debris clean-up continues

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

The Henry County Conservation Department continues to clean debris from flooding.

?Where we sit right now, we?re going to have to file another extension for our Category A, which is our debris removal,? Conservation Director John Pullis told the conservation board on Monday night. ?Right now it expires July 29, and with the flooding we had, I don?t know if we?re going to be finished.

This will be the second extension that is filed on this project.

Debris has pulled up along the dam, and Pullis and Operations Supervisor Tony Millard have been working to clean it up.

?We?ve worked on it a couple times now. We got the lion?s share of it out of there,? said Pullis.

Pullis said his biggest concern is the debris that is stuck on the highway bridge.

?If that ever comes loose, we?re going to end up with a mess behind the dam again,? he said.

Besides just having debris in the Skunk River, there has been debris and flood damage to clean up in the parks and recreation areas, which has proven to be a continuous process.

?Water Works went back under after we had everything finished,? said Pullis, noting that Water Works Park had been under water three times in the last month and a half. ?It seems like every time we open Water Works, it?s like an omen.?

Pullis did note that North Shore and Faulkner?s Access are finished. Also, the campsite at South Shore has been open for two or three weeks.

?It?s not really pretty, but people are liking it,? said Pullis. ?We?re hoping that by maybe the end of this week we?ll have Water Works back open,? said Pullis. ?It?s even less pretty than the South Shore. If it?s not sand, then it?s dried mud.?