Landslide on the edge of a Benton, KY road; officials assessing the damage

BENTON, Ky., (KBSI) – After severe flooding throughout Kentucky, a landslide on the side of a road in Marshall County has closed a section of the road indefinitely.

Marshall County Road Department Superintendent Roy Wadkins showed FOX23 the damaged section of the road.

“We think it’s a spring under the road that’s building up water,” he said, “and then with the amount of rain that we had, it just gave away. It had a slide.”

Wadkins said the road department’s been working hard throughout the last week.

“We’ve seen lots of high water over our roads, but you know, I have a really good crew of guys that go out and we maintain the roads, the culverts underneath the bridges, for events like that – to prevent damage. And they’ve done a real good job of that,” he said.

Wadkins said it’s important not to drive around road closed signs. He said after a big flood a road can look fine but you don’t know what unseen damage lies below, potentially leading to additional cave-ins after the water is gone.

Marshall County Judge Executive Kevin Spraggs said they’re assessing the damage and meeting with FEMA on Monday – hoping to find some solutions.

“We’re meeting with an engineering company to come out and give us some solutions and pricing,” he said, “and then we will reach out to the state and hopefully we can get some emergency funding – some FEMA funding. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on that and get things done in a very timely manner.”