Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 17, 1995 TAG: 9501170132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
By supper time Monday, though, the city had canceled water-conservation measures, and life returned to normal on campus and elsewhere in the city.
Over the weekend, Radford shared a bit more of its space than usual with the New River, including most of riverfront Bisset Park.
"I was expecting high water, but not anything like this," said Jettie Montgomery, the city's water and sewer superintendent, who ranked the weekend flood among the top three he's witnessed in his 25 years in Radford.
Flooding caused more than mere inconvenience elsewhere in the New River Valley, however, leaving several families homeless in a trailer park near Narrows and washing out the home of an elderly couple in Newport. The New River also flooded several Giles County businesses, but no injuries were reported. Residents, even as they breathed a sigh of relief, said they had been surprised by how fast the water rose.
Montgomery said he wasn't sure how far above flood stage the river got. "When it shut me down, I quit worrying about it," he said.
The water plant's fortunes ebbed Sunday afternoon as the New River flowed over an electrical box enclosing controls that keep the plant's water inlets from clogging with debris, Montgomery explained.
"When we shut that down, we shut the plant down," he said. It stayed down 14 hours.
Conservation measures at Radford University - which uses about 200,000 gallons of water per day - were not the only headaches the flooding caused for the school. Three playing fields and a parking lot in the Dedmon Center complex along the river remained at least partially under water late Monday, said Bob Nicholson, the university's assistant physical plant director.
Some cars in the lot had to be towed to safety when owners could not be located, he said. Crews were cleaning mud and silt from the parking lot Monday afternoon.
Not far away, the Radford Police firing range and a nearby shelter were almost submerged early Sunday afternoon.
Around 2 p.m., water lapped at the foundations of the Radford Animal Control Department on Pulaski Street, and concerned university students volunteered to take home the two kittens and nine dogs being held at the shelter. The river never overtook the structure, though it swirled just inches from a loading dock, said Animal Control Officer Frank Havens.
"We sweated it to the end," he said. "It was rough."
Throughout Sunday near Bisset Park, a handful of homeowners kept a watchful eye on the rising water as the New River spilled over its banks, expanding to the full width of the park, making a gazebo an island, flooding the pool and halfway submerging the tennis nets.
City workers closed off the park, but scores of curious motorists drove by throughout the day and night to witness what Police Chief A.C. Earles called the worst flooding he had seen in 23 years.
Prompt communication of the shutdown to the city's major water users probably kept more serious measures from becoming necessary. Drinking water in storage tanks is sufficient to supply residential users for a day or so, Montgomery said, and no one ran dry.
Several businesses were not as fortunate. Intermet's Radford Shell Plant - formerly Lynchburg Foundry - shut down when it got the word around 6 p.m. Sunday, affecting 570 workers on all three shifts. The plant needs water to cool manufacturing equipment. Employees at Intermet's New River Casting Plant, which recycles most of its process water, stayed on the job, although some 50 molding department workers did other jobs, said Intermet spokeswoman Jan Toenisson. Operations returned to normal Monday afternoon.
New River Industries also shut down its textile operations on both sides of the river. Both plants get water from the Radford system.
Staff writers Kathy Loan and Ken Singletary contributed information for this story.
by CNB