Water floods Ebro, residents move on

EBRO — The small retention pond down the potholed street didn’t stop waters from creeping to Jackie Casey’s door step.

“It’s under there,” she said, tapping the raised planked porch with her foot, pointing to flood waters beneath it.

In 46 years at the property, it hadn’t received so much rain in that short of period, Casey said.

Ebro rain totals were on the cusp of 10 inches. Navigating around the waters is almost unthinkable, especially on unpaved roads. In the wake of getting hit with unprecedented rain levels, residents do their best to continue life as usual.

Every first Saturday of the month, Casey and her family hosts Casey’s Gospel Music Hall in the backyard. However, this week’s rains have left a soggy landscape all around the two-acre property on Casey Road.

Guests to the music hall will have to take State 79 and turn on Morrell Avenue to get to the other end of Casey Road. The road is dangerous, with bumps, steep clay hills and water-filled potholes.

The entrance to Casey Road appears to be paved; however, it’s closed and underwater.

“Maybe they ought to have it open this weekend,” she said, noting she’s reluctant to direct people toward Morrell because of its instability. “We don’t have but one paved road in Ebro, but we really need this one” paved.

Flooded trenches spilled water onto roads and closed neighborhood streets forced residents to stay in or find an alternate route. About 70 roads closed or barely passable, county officials said.

“As far as any other damage other than being aggravating, I don’t guess it done anything,” Casey concluded.

Back on State 79, Ebro Motel Lodging saw about $20,000 in damage, according to General Manager Dianne Showers.

The pump motor for well water supplied to the two-story hotel, yards away from Ebro Greyhound Park, was down as well as a number of other electronic systems used to keep the business running.

“It fried it,” Showers said, referring to lightning from the storm. “I’m totally manual right now.”

“This much damage at the worst time,” she said. “I’ve been working on this place for two years trying for it to be everything it can be.”

Flooded out of their own homes, local residents checked in at the motel. Discounts provided by the hotel in conjunction with local business partners helped residents save money during the emergency situation.

Yellowish-brown puddle marks showed up on otherwise white ceilings in a number of the motel’s rooms. Fans were on high-speed blowing dry carpets in the furnished rooms.

“We’ve had a couple of rooms we’ve had to take off the rental,” Showers said. “And we really had been breaking records every month.

“It’s just,” she added, pausing, “Well, I’m sure there are lots of people that have loss so much more.”