Rising waters bring up concerns of flooding in Springville

Friday, January 6, 2017
Rising waters bring up concerns of flooding in Springville
There are some rivers and creeks in Porterville and Springville that residents say haven't been flowing like they are now in years.

SPRINGVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- There are some rivers and creeks in Porterville and Springville that residents say haven't been flowing like they are now in years. One of those waterways is the Tule River; and Bob Landress lives right on the water.

With all this runoff from the recent rain Landress said the river is finally getting back to normal winter levels.

"This is the highest it's been this year."

His property has been in the Landress family for years, so the rush of water after a long drought is a welcome sound. But he also remembers the last time too much water caused flooding and major damage.

"If it gets up in this area, which it could easily do, then the rest of the logs start rolling down. And when the logs start piling up they start damming up and bust all at once. And then you get chain reactions down the river which can cause all kinds of trouble."

Once it moves down river, Landress said, it all ends up at Lake Success. That's where we found Jason Winters who is taking the good with the bad.

"Deer Creek is flowing like I've never seen it before," he said. "I'm kind of hoping it helps us out here in the drought."

Both people are thirsty for change and hopeful for more rainfall.

We have been told that many residents are getting sandbags and preparing in case of major flooding. But at this point with this system that we just saw there is no major issues so far.