PORTSMOUTH – EMA Director and Flood Defense Manager has put into force one of the cities best defenses against floodwaters a intricate system of floodgates the city installed years ago.
Portsmouth is located on the Ohio river and when high rains and snow melting they experience flooding. The city over the years created a flood gate system around the city to protect it when waters rise.
Today the City of Portsmouth Flood Defense has erected Flood Gate #4 located at Third and Madison. Gate #4 is traditionally the first gate that is installed by flood defense crews when the Ohio River stage reaches 52.8 ft.
Crews also placed traffic cones at the Court Street gate (#8) (and at the exit) to block traffic from driving through the riverfront yesterday.
The Second Street at the bridge has been closed for several days due to the high water.
Portsmouth Flood Defense Manager Rick Duncan told EMA yesterday that the one gate (Gate #4) would be partially put up but the city probably would not erect any other gates since the river crest isn’t anticipated to last long and no additional rain is predicted for the rest of the week.
Portsmouth City Engineer Nathan Prosch told EMA this morning that to his knowledge there are not any plans to erect additional flood gates. Flood defense crews are monitoring the situation and will take appropriate action if warranted.
The National Weather Service predicts the Ohio River at Portsmouth should crest this afternoon at 1 PM at 56.1ft before starting to drop Thursday morning.
Minor river and blackwater flooding will continue until the river drops below the flood stage level of 50ft.
