Higdon, Elliott request help on flooding issue in Liberty
Published 9:52 am Friday, September 9, 2016
By KERRY STEINHOFER
LIBERTY — State Sen. Jimmy Higdon and State Rep. Daniel Elliott have sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Kentucky’s U.S. congressional delegates and senators, asking for help in regards to flooding problems in Casey County.
In the letter, Higdon and Elliott explain how Liberty and Casey County have experienced devastating flooding issues in previous years.
The letter refers to a major flood in 2010 that resulted in severe flooding over U.S. 127. The flood also affected areas where flooding had never occurred before, Higdon and Elliott wrote. The city of Liberty was hit another big flood in 2015.
“These floods have impacted the city’s economy to the point where measures need to be taken to better understand and mitigate these flood events,” Higdon and Elliott wrote in the letter.
According to the letter, “a working group led by the city and county officials and consisting of state legislative representatives, local business owners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Kentucky Division of Water, Kentucky Emergency Management and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet” has been formed in response to the flooding issues in Casey County.
The group coordinates monthly to research and address the causes and solutions to the flooding issues.
“The working group recently applied for funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a comprehensive study to outline alternatives to best mitigate the flooding issues,” Higdon and Elliott wrote in the letter.
The two ask for support from Kentucky’s federal representatives and senators in order to conduct the flood study and help reduce the impact flooding has on the city.
