Southern end of county cleaning up

Flood waters have receded in the southern part of Jefferson County, but dozens of homeowners have been left with basements that need cleaned out.

More than 3 inches of rain Wednesday morning caused Short Creek to come out of its banks in Adena and Dillonvale. Flood waters covered streets in both communities and sent water into basements.

John Parker, county Emergency Management Agency director, said about 70 homes had basement flooding. Volunteer fire departments from Jefferson and Harrison counties worked throughout the day to pump water out of basements.

The American Red Cross Jefferson County Chapter provided cleanup kits to residents in Adena and Dillonvale and also sent its cantina to provide food and beverages for the firefighter.

Adena firefighter, in addition to pumping out residents' basements, had to deal with flood waters in its fire station.

Parker said crews now will concentrate on cleaning up debris left by the flood waters. A contractor has been hired to remove a private bridge that fell into a creek near Glen Robins on county Road 1.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said Dillonvale was the hardest hit. He said one basement had 5 feet of water. But the sheriff said it could have been worse if not for efforts to clean trees and other debris out of creeks in the past several years.

"Whenever we had the creeks cleaned out, that helped out a lot," Abdalla said.

"It always could have been worse. Now it is just the cleanup," the sheriff said.

The county health department offered advice for homeowners with water wells or cisterns that may have come in contact with flood waters.

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Southern end of county cleaning up