Officials at a Kansas town are working to keep flood waters out as many of the major roads into and out of the town are closed.
Flooding along the Little Arkansas River in Harvey County has led to closures of four of the six main roads into Halstead, and city crews and volunteers have closed one of three gates along a flood control levee. Halstead city administrator Ethan Reimer said the flooding is mostly along the river to the north and east of town.
“In the city we are high and dry,” he said. “The levee system is working as designed and is keeping the city safe and dry and the water on the correct side,” Reimer said.
The levee was built in 1994 after a flood the previous year. Dave Friesen, a lifelong Halstead resident, said he doesn’t think the water will be as high as the flood of ‘93.
VanSchaick said the levee has helped prevent flooding in the city.
Before it was built, “Halstead had quite a few flooding issues because we had really nothing to stop it from coming into town,” he said. “Now, the way it is, we have the two main roads coming into town get covered with water, just like they used to, but it starts to push out to the north … because the levee is in place to keep the water from coming into town. … The levee does a lot to keep people at ease.”
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