SALE CREEK, Tenn. (WDEF)- There are now over 120 dead from the devastating Central Texas floods.
They are leading some residents in our area to raise concerns about their risk of a devastating flash flood.
One of those communities is Sale Creek in northern Hamilton County.
The main that runs through town is Rock Creek.
On this July day, it looked like a tranquil body of water with rocks and trees aligned on its side.
However, citizens we spoke with here in Sale Creek say that the trees in the creekbed could one day lead to a disaster if they are not removed.
Curtis Coulter has lived in Sale Creek for all 76 years of his life and is a town historian.
Coulter said, “It’s not a matter of if there’s going to be a flood, it’s a matter of when there’s going to be a flood.”
He says that Rock Creek, which flows off of Walden’s Ridge into Sale Creek, is usually tame.
Coulter said, “It dries up, sometimes going completely dry by the middle of July or August.”
However, he says this creek can become a raging force of nature, with at least seven different major floods dating back to 1869, the most recent being in 1994.
These have caused damage to structures and bridges, necessitated Highway 27 to be raised by a few feet, and have led to people being rescued along Leggett Road during a serious flood in 1962.
One Sale Creek resident told us off camera he has seen the Slabtown Bridge, which is the name for Leggett Road’s bridge over Rock Creek, under water.
Coulter described the force with which this creek can flood as it has long straights down the mountain.
He said, “Hear the boulders rolling under the water, you can hear them bumping and thumping as those big rocks, and I’m not talking about 25, 30, 50 pound rocks, I’m talking about rocks that weigh hundreds of pounds that are rolling down that creek.”
His, along with other resident’s concerns?
The overgrowth of trees in the creekbed.
Coulter said, “The creek channel has grown up with trees, and if we get a high water like we have in the past, as it carries debris down, then those trees are either going to be pulled up and carried downstream to the nearest bridge where they will form a dam, and if they do, then the water is going to come out into the community.”
He says the Slabtown Bridge, the railroad bridge, and the U.S. Highway 27 bridge are all of concern.
Coulter says that the creekbed has not been properly cleaned out since 1957.
Hamilton County Emergency Management says that the management of creek beds falls with the Army Corps of Engineers.
We have reached out to them, but have not heard back.
Coulter says he hopes this situation is fixed before it’s too late.
He said, “Because with the number of trees that are in there, it’s worse than I’ve ever seen and I’ve lived here all of my life.”
