Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993 TAG: 9307060198
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fagg lives on Bradshaw Road in western Roanoke County, several hundred yards behind the Smith Gap landfill. A thunderstorm dropped 2 1/2 inches of rain in the area Thursday night.
"Certainly the mud's coming up there from the landfill area," said John Hubbard, chief executive officer for the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority, owner of the landfill.
The landfill, due to open this fall, has sediment basins or ponds designed to catch excess water, said Jack Hinshelwood, project manager with Olver Inc., consulting engineers for the landfill. But they weren't enough for Thursday's storm.
"There's not much you can do with acts of God," said Charles Karpa, another Olver project manager. "It was a major rain event."
The National Weather Service recorded that 2.63 inches fell in the area between 9 and 11 p.m.
Virginia Department of Transportation workers were removingmud that swept into Bradshaw Road at two sites Friday morning.
Shannon Ricks, 17, tried to make it across a stretch of mud-covered road a few hundred feet from Fagg's home, but the car slid into the ditch. He was uninjured.
It wasn't the first time Fagg's basement has fallen victim to landfill runoff. Two Aprils ago, a storm flooded the basement with mud and water. It was worse - more muddy - this time.
"I'm worried about getting the mess out of my basement," she said. Authority workers were cleaning it out Friday afternoon.
by CNB