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Highlands Today

Paved Roads Passable, But Some Pastures Still Swamped

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: August 22, 2008

SEBRING - All of the county, state and U.S. roads in Highlands County were open to traffic by Thursday afternoon as the flood waters from Tropical Storm Fay receded off the roadways.

That is the report of Clell Ford, the county's lakes manager, as he spent most of Thursday surveying potential damage to citrus groves and cattle ranches as the heavy rains of Fay left hundreds of acres of farm fields flooded.

"There is no road in Highlands County that remains closed due to water over it," Ford said at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, shortly after he assessed the flooding of 300 acres of citrus at the ranch of Ed Pines, off U.S. 98 near Cowhouse Road.

"You might find a few dirt roads that are impassable, but there are no paved roads that are impassable due to water," Ford said.

As of mid-afternoon Thursday, only one paved road in the county still had water over it. That was a residential road near Josephine Creek and the Sebring Lakes area, he said.

"That road is not impassable because of the water," Ford said. "But it does have water over it and people need to drive slowly there."

At Pines's citrus grove, Ford reported, more than 300 acres of citrus trees were flooded with standing water.

Seeing the flooded area from U.S. 98, Ford said, "it looks like a lake." Ford didn't know the depth of the water in the citrus fields.

"But," he said, "you could get a good-sized boat out there and go boating. I wouldn't advise it, because the trees would make for a lot of snags, but you could run a good-sized boat out there."

Ford said he expects the water flooding Pines's citrus grove to recede in no more than a week.

"That could come sooner, but we don't know when it will go down," he added.

Neighboring farms, including one cattle ranch, also have standing water in pasture fields, Ford said.

Will the flooding of the fields damage the production of citrus, or harm other farming operations?

"That's something we can't answer, because we don't know," Ford said. He advised Pines and other farmers to contact the county's Cooperative Extension Service to talk with experts in citrus, cattle or other agriculture production areas to find out.

While Fay was dropping heavy rains far away in the northern area of Florida, thunderstorms were still pelting parts of Highlands County.

Ford, in fact, got caught in a heavy downpour as a thunderstorm hit Pines's ranch while the county lakes manager was surveying the situation and giving Pines his best advice.

"We're meeting inside a car right now," Ford said by cell phone shortly after he and Pines took shelter from the pounding rain inside a car. "It's raining hard now, and, of course, that is compounding the (flooding fields) problem."

Ford said there was less water in the citrus groves and neighboring cattle pastures on Thursday than there was on Wednesday.

Why citrus and ranch fields along U.S. 98 flooded is not yet known. Ford said some people suspect that the water in the fields came there by draining off U.S 98.

Ford said that may not be the cause of the field flooding.

"One problem is that Arbuckle Creek can't carry the water fast enough into Lake Istokpoga," Ford said. "It's going to take some time to get down past the U.S 98 bridge (which narrows the creek and slows the flow of water) to get into Istokpoga."

Asked if the Tropical Storm Fay rains have ended the drought in Highlands County, Clell said yes in some areas but no in other areas.

"For a lot of the area," he explained, "with the water levels we're seeing now, we can say we're no longer under drought conditions. But at the same time, some of the lakes in the Avon Park and Sebring areas are still below where they need to be at this time of the year as far as lake levels.

"So, while some areas of the county have (lake) levels where they should be," he said, "we're still seeing other lakes that are below where they need to be at this time of year."

Over the coming days, Ford said, the county's natural resources department will be working with the county's extension service to determine what, if any, threat the flooded fields pose to agricultural production.

Farmers with flooded fields are also being advised to contact a storm damage estimator who is working out of the county's Emergency Operations Center. If the flooded fields do damage agricultural production, Ford said, the producers will know who they have to talk to and begin the process of applying for storm damage aid.

Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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