Allen seeks aid to help with floods
By SHARON KERR

SHAWN MALONE waded to his house near the intersection of Highway 63 and Houston Street for the second time in three months.

One of Mark Allen's first duties as Jasper County Judge was to sign a declaration of disaster Jan. 3 for severe damage caused by torrential rainfall and sustained winds resulting in major flooding.

The flooding was not as widespread as the Oct. 16 rains that inundated most of Jasper County, but it was enough to flood downtown Jasper and further damage roads and bridges in Precincts 1 and 2.

Allen took time during the Deep East Texas Council of Government's reception in Austin Monday, Jan. 8, to address the county's to clear waterways.

"We have a definite need for debris removal in our area and we need to address the problem we have with our waterways being clogged with Hurricane Rita damage," Allen said. "We have several businesses and homes that are flooding repeatedly.

"This is not a 100-year flood but a 10-week flood, and it's in areas that are not in floodplain zones," Allen said. "We need to do something about it or we are going to end up losing a life or more property."

Allen said the reception was vital to express the needs of the county to the state's leaders so that help might be provided.

Allen said in the DETCOG region, the counties of Jasper, Newton and Tyler are in desperate need of help to remove Rita debris because it is clogging vital water flow.

"You can't stop torrential rainfall. However, in the past when we received torrential rains, it ran off," Allen said. "You will always have some flooding somewhere, but those areas are identified and there is nothing you can do to help.

"But with all the down trees in the creeks and draws, it keeps the water from flowing naturally into the lakes and rivers and that is what is causing all the flooding," Allen said.

He said the disaster declaration is the first step towards allowing county crews help private landowners clear ditches on their property.

"It also lets the state know that we still have a problem and I will continue to file a declaration every time we have bad flooding," Allen said. "They are going to get used to me."

In the first 2007 meeting of commissioners' court, the county will consider extending the declaration of disaster.