Published: August 06, 2009 02:01 pm      

Blackiston Mill Road in Clarksville will be closed for 30 days

Floodwaters washed out portion near Dead Man’s Hollow

A portion of Blackiston Mill Road — a major thoroughfare between Clarksville and New Albany — will be closed for about 30 days because of damage incurred by Tuesday’s flood.

A piece of the road near what’s known as Dead Man’s Hollow was washed out after heavy rains pounded Southern Indiana on Tuesday morning and afternoon. Clarksville Town Council President Greg Isgrigg said a culvert that goes underneath the road will have to be replaced as a result.

Clarksville officials already have used stones to barricade Blackiston Mill between Gutford Road and Parkwood Drive.

The roadblock has already affected business at least somewhat at nearby Dylan’s Food Mart, according to an employee who declined to be identified for this story.

However, the worker said there is still access to the business off of Gutford Road.

“We have our dedicated regulars still coming in,” the employee said.

However, the area is largely residential. Isgrigg noted that those living in the area would have access to their homes.

He encouraged other motorists to find another way to get where they were headed, but cautioned those cutting through nearby subdivisions to slow down, noting that many children play in those areas.

The town already has started receiving bids for the project, which will replace a culvert and rebuild the washed-out portions of the road. The new culvert will be larger than the one that’s in place now, he said.

Isgrigg estimated that the project would likely cost the town about $500,000, but cautioned that was only an estimate.

“It could be more, who knows,” he said.

Flash flooding impacted the region Tuesday. Clarksville, Jeffersonville, New Albany and downtown Louisville were among the hardest hit, according to the National Weather Service in Louisville.

Unofficially, 4.50 inches of rain fell at Louisville International Airport, though many areas got more, the weather service said. That broke the old record for highest rainfall in a single day in August. Nearly 3 inches of that rain fell in one hour early Tuesday morning.