Too bad Houston didn’t install a beaver deceiver around that culvert. Five or six months ago when they first noticed it was plugged. There is zero chance a beaver decided to build a dam in the flooding.
Dam drama: Beaver’s aquatic antics wash out Livingston neighborhood road, prompting shelter in place
Residents stranded as a beaver’s engineering escapade turns a road into a river, leading to an unexpected shelter-in-place orer in Livingston’s Crystal lakes West.
The main access road of Crystal Lakes West, perched above a culvert, succumbed to the mischievous endeavors of a beaver during a torrential Tuesday night rainfall, prompting a mandatory shelter-in-place order.
The unsuspecting neighborhood, just off U.S. Highway 190 East, found itself facing an unusual challenge as a colossal chunk of its roadway vanished, courtesy of a beaver’s ambitious construction project.
That;s some sandy looking soil you got there in Houston. I’m imagining a washout isn’t that hard to achieve on that particular bedding. Just so know the offending beaver probably built this months ago. Too bad you didn’t check back in September. Beavers don’t make dams in heavy storms.
They aren’t stupid.
As rain poured down on Tuesday night, a beaver den blocked a culvert. The ensuing flood, courtesy of the beaver’s handiwork, loosened the earth, culminating in the dramatic vanishing act of a chunk of the main access road.
Mitchell Murphy, on-site with a repair crew Wednesday, described the scene: “It cut the road completely in two.”
The Polk County Office of Emergency Management jumped into action, urging residents on the west side of the neighborhood to shelter in place until the road could be resurrected.
Despite the inconvenience, Murphy assured that the stranded residents are doing well. “They’re doing good. The Sheriff’s Department and some emergency management people have been there, checked on them, and done wellness checks. So far, so good.”
Well you at least get the colorful language award for describing beaver difficulties as antics and ambitious rather than ‘dam nuisances’…I’m so very tired of puns…
A dedicated crew had been tirelessly working on-site since midnight, determined to mend the fractured road. Murphy outlined the mission, “We’re hauling in dirt to fill up the hole, and we’ve got to get to the end of the culvert and clean it out. And hopefully at 2 or 3 o’clock, maybe we’ll have it fixed where folks can get back and forth.”
One can’t help but marvel at the unexpected drama caused by a beaver’s ambitious construction project. Turns out, beavers aren’t just dam architects; they’re road engineers too!
Ha ha ha! They’re road engineers that do not build during storms so maybe you want to encourage public works to check the culvert is flowing BEFORE the rains come. You know just in case one of the residents needs an ambulance or something before that sandy road washes out.
