• 41°
Hartselle Enquirer

Rain puts damper on July 4 holiday

Mitwede Street was flooded on Thursday afternoon. | Photo courtesy of Jacob Hamilton
Mitwede Street was flooded on Thursday afternoon. | Photo courtesy of Jacob Hamilton

An unusual rainstorm, which dumped more than five inches of precipitation on Hartselle and surrounding areas Thursday, put a damper on July 4 celebrations, flooded several low-lying streets and caused minor property damage.

Hartselle residents who had made plans for outdoor holiday festivities were disappointed when they awoke on Thursday morning by dark clouds and a steady downpour. Any hope of a break in the sky was dashed by weather forecasts of four to six inches of rain during the day in North Alabama.

By 11:30 a.m., six to 10 inches of water had accumulated in low-lying areas of several city streets and forced them to be closed. At the same time, rising water was creating ponds of standing water in several residential neighborhoods.

A rain gauge at a home on Sparkman Street measured 5.6 inches of rain Thursday, according a Twitter report. Rainfall in the Decatur area was reported as high as seven and one-half inches.

Traffic on U.S. 31 slowed to a crawl when water knocked out the traffic light at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Alabama 36 and inundated sections of the roadway across from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts and closed one of two southbound lanes north of Lowe’s.

“It was a mess,” said public works foreman Glen Hollingsworth. “I saw water in places I’d never seen it before.”

He and five co-workers spent the most of the day in the rain monitoring water levels on streets, putting up barricades and cleaning trash out of drainage outlets. They also had to remove uprooted trees from North Railroad Street and Ausley Bend Road.

Streets blocked due to flooding included Stewart, Railroad, Holloway, Highway 31 North and Mitwede, Tunstill and Peach Orchard roads

“Fortunately, We came out of it in pretty good shape,” said Mayor Don Hall. “I’m only aware of one building having water inside. Cahoots Restaurant (Main Street) had water in the pit area of its dining room. Bill Smelser and I walked Main Street round 2:30 p.m. and didn’t see signs of water damage in any of the other store buildings.

“Two of the issues we noted was the accumulation of trash in street drains and the waves made by moving vehicles on streets covered with water.” Hall pointed out. “We may want to consider closing Main Street and detouring traffic the next time we have a rain like this one.”

Hall said flooding that occurred in the city’s flood plain could’ve been worse had city and Hartselle Utilities employees not joined forces and cleaned out a drainpipe under CSX Railroad earlier this year.

“We’re pursuing the construction of a storm waster retention pond north of the Hartselle Fine Arts Center,” Hall pointed out. “It would improve our drainage system and lessen the likelihood of something like this from happening again. Hopefully, it will be operational by this time next year.”

Hartselle Utilities experienced an emergency during the rainstorm when an eight-inch water main on Nix Street ruptured, causing water pressure in fall.

HU engineer Glen Partlow said the break occurred at around 9:15 a.m. and affected mostly customers who reside north of Highway 36.

“It took awhile to locate the break because of all of the storm water,” Partlow said. “Luckily, a customer spotted it in front of his house and called us. We had the line repaired and service fully restored about 4 p.m.”

At a Glance

PowerGrid Services in Hartselle evacuated for bomb threat

Morgan County

20 under 40: Trey Chowning

Falkville

20 under 40: TJ Holmes

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Spencer Bell

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Shelby Keenum

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Rachel Howard

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Mary Virgina Halbrooks

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Maggie McKelvey

Decatur

20 under 40: Maegan Jones

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Lindsey Tapscott

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

‘He lets us have sex’: More details emerge on Hartselle man accused of child exploitation 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Hartselle church creates Easter-themed escape rooms 

Danville

Family tradition: State livestock show legacy spans generations

Editor's picks

Baseball for Beau: More than $8k raised for scholarship named after Hartselle child  

Falkville

20 under 40: Lela Weeks

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Kalleigh Thomas

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

20 under 40: Jaime Hatcher

Hartselle

Veteran Hartselle firefighter charged with possessing child porn

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Cerrowire expansion named finalist in Business Alabama Awards  

At a Glance

Work begins on repairing two bridges over I-65 in Morgan County in coming weeks

At a Glance

Tickets for Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame banquet available

Falkville

Morgan County volunteers celebrated at annual fire department banquet 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Man jailed for stealing car from jail after earlier release 

FRONT PAGE FEATURED

Police: Hartselle man encouraged children to have sex inside his apartment

x