WAYNE/EDWARDS COs., Ill. - The Little Wabash River has joined other area rivers (the Embarrass to the northeast being most notable) as raging out of its banks...just past the county line of Wayne in Edwards county, it's at some of the highest levels seen in a while.
Lifelong Mt. Erie resident Martin Mayes told us earlier that in his more than five decades in the area, he couldn't recall seeing the Little Wabash at the river south of Bennington (formerly known as Blood), which is just inside the Edwards County line from Wayne on the 161 Extension, this high and lapping at the underneath of the bridge.
Local residents know Mayes as a horticulturist, specializing in daylilies; but he's also a talented photographer, artist and videographer (as well as a lifelong friend of my beautiful wife Ang; they went to school together all through Mt. Erie Grade School and Cisne High); he created the amusing graphic above (Mt. Erie, fortunately, sits on a high elevation point in northeast Wayne and heavy rains just run off from the hill, which is why the graphic is so tongue-in-cheek.) Here are some shots Marty took at the 161 earlier today, as the New Year's Eve 2015 flood is sweeping through several locations in southern Illinois; the first photo and arrow shows, on google maps, where the location is that he shot the photos; the shots are facing west up the 161 toward the West Salem Crossroads at Illinois 130 where noted, and taken from both the north and south sides (westbound and eastbound, respectively) of the bridge abutments.
Red arrow denotes the location of the shoot, from the west side. CR 1850N is the 161 Extension that runs from Mt. Erie to the west into West Salem to the east.
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Taken from the north side, facing east.
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Facing east
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A shot of how close the water is to the levee, that strip of green.
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Another view of how close the water is to the levee (on the left in the pic); this is facing north.
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More levee perspective
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Back to the west side, facing east; this is the north side of the bridge you're looking at.
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And now you're seeing the water as it's rushing against the north side of the abutment
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This is what's scary for Edwards/Wayne residents in the area...that water pushing against the abutment is fierce, and is what can cause damage to the bridge if there's debris...or just enough momentum to erode the material surrounding the bridge itself.
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A close-up of the rushing...good job, Mart!!
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Flood coverage continues...send us your flood pics if you'd like. Keep a tab up so you can see the latest.
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