News & Announcements
New flood gates to help Washington recover more quickly from hurricane flooding (March 25, 2004)
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City and state officials prepare to cut a ribbon over a new flood gate at Jack's Creek to recognize completion of this project. In attendance were (from left) Billy Roberson, construction inspector with The Wooten Company; NC Rep. Arthur Williams; Washington Mayor Pro Tem Mark Hamblin; David Clark, Job Superintendent with Trader Construction; Washington City Councilman Mickey Gahagan; Washington City Councilman Ed Gibson; Washington Public Works Director Allen Lewis; Washington City Manager Steven L. Harrell; Mayor L. Stewart Rumley; and Marvin K. Blount, III, Division 2 representative on the NC Board of Transportation. Brian Johnson, an engineer with The Wooten Company, also was in attendance.
The riverside openings of box culverts under Park Drive, shown from the creek side, are covered with flood gates that are shut tight to keep river water out of Washington. Should the creek flood, high water will push the gates open to let the flooding drain.
City officials are now planning for widening Jack's Creek upstream from Charlotte and Brown streets to increase holding capacity. |
The
City of Washington is better equipped to respond to flooding problems
during hurricanes thanks to modifications to the Jack’s Creek
flood control system at Park Drive that have just been completed.
These improvements were made possible through a $586,370 grant from
the NC Department of Transportation which Rep. Arthur Williams of
the NC General Assembly and Marvin K. Blount, III, of the Board of
Transportation helped secure. City storm water service charges and
funding from the US Economic Development Administration also helped
fund the $812,965 project. Large box-style culverts with flap gates (floodgates) have been installed beneath Park Drive where the road crosses Jack’s Creek, the city’s central drainage basin. The closed flap gates and dike beneath Park Drive protect the central part of the city from flooding during normal tidal fluctuations. However, following a hurricane, where storm surges can breach the protective dike and flood a major portion of the city, the flap gates will open to allow flood waters in the creek to flow out as the river level drops. The flaps are designed to be pushed open by gravity when the river level drops to six inches below the creek level. With this new system hurricane flooding should recede as quickly as the river level drops; in contrast, it has taken up to 14 hours to remove hurricane flooding from pumping alone. The quicker recovery time will allow community activities to return to normal more quickly after a hurricane and will reduce the likelihood of damage or injury from persistent flooding. This project is the first of an estimated $12 million in drainage system improvements needed in the Jack’s Creek basin and also is the first major project to be paid for in part by storm water service fees that residents, businesses and industries began paying in 2002. City officials are now preparing for the next major drainage project, widening Jack’s Creek upstream from Charlotte Street and possibly replacing the Brown Street bridge and Charlotte Street culverts. Widening the creek will increase stormwater storage capacity so that the creek can handle increased volumes of water that will result from future upstream drainage improvements. The need for this project was identified by an earlier engineering study overseen by the city’s Stormwater Drainage Study Committee. Trader Construction Co. was contractor, and The Wooten Co. served as project engineer for the final project. |
