14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-Millersburg is a mess from flooding

Millersburg is a mess from flooding

By Nicole DiDonato - bio | email
Posted by Noah Stubbs - email

VANDERBURGH, CO. (WFIE) - Residents in northern Vanderburgh County say Millersburg Road at Green River Road is one big muddy mess.

The road is under construction, but residents say the rain has made the road even more impassable.

Crews are reconstructing this intersection at Millersburg and Green River Road.

Neighbors expected some inconvenience, but Millersburg Road is all torn up.

"When you drive on it, you can see the ground buckle," resident Amy Kessler said.

In fact, the road near the Kessler's home is filled with mud. With a sick child at home, it's could be a problem for Kessler.

"We had to worry if we needed any emergency vehicles in the near future because they definitely wouldn't have been able to get through," Kessler said. 

The Kesslers, like many of their neighbors, must park in the subdivision in back of their homes.

"We cant park up in the garage because the mud is just caked on our tires and the vehicles," Kessler said.

Kessler says with her front yard all dug up and a large drainage ditch exposed, it's also a safety concern for her family.

Vanderburgh County officials are aware of the problem.

"We received a number of phone calls about the condition of the temporary access so we made several attempts to contact the contractor," County Engineer John Stoll said.

Help finally arrived in the form of gravel trucks.

Crews spent the day laying down about a thousand tons of rocks stabilize the roadway.

County Engineer John Stoll says the rain is making it difficult to work with.

"Its just bad timing of removing all the asphalt and not having enough rock to provide a suitable access," Stoll said. 

The crews are laying down gravel at their own expense at $15 a ton.

But Kessler says her frustrations go deeper than the mud.

Residents feel the contractor failed to explain the extent of the project in detail and how much the resident's yards would be torn up.

"We had some people out that said we wouldn't notice a difference in our yard," Kessler said. "And, it's a big difference."

The Vanderburgh County engineer tells us he's working with residents about raising the grade of the road so it's not so drastic from their yards, however, it can't change too much or it will affect the project.

©2009 WFIE. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.