Emergency declaration made after lengthy water outage in Whitley County

A water outage that affected several southern Whitley County communities resulted in Judge Executive Pat White, Jr. signing an emergency declaration Monday.

“Due to the water outage in the southern part of Whitley County, Judge White signed an emergency declaration and Whitley County Emergency Management was able to secure a tractor-trailer load of bottled water,” the Whitley County Fiscal Court announced Monday evening via its official Facebook page.

The water was delivered to residents in need at the Hutton Woods Mountain Outreach building in Emlyn, and was also delivered to many homes by emergency personnel. Whitley County Emergency Management Director Danny Moses said Tuesday that approximately 1,200 homes in the southern part of the county had lost water between Sunday and Monday, and that he and his crew were doing everything they could to get to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

Judge White said that the main line break causing the outage was eventually revealed to be either in or under Cane Creek, located just south of Emlyn. Because heavy rains had caused the waters in the creek to rise prior to the break, workers were initially not able to locate it. It wasn’t until the waters receded on Monday that bubbles could be seen in the creek, signaling the location of the break.

After locating the problem area, workers were able to temporarily repair the line and restore water service until a contractor can be brought in to fix the issue permanently.

A rough couple of days for everyone

Once initial reports of water outages in areas south of Emlyn began trickling in, the Whitley County Water District made a Facebook post to announce that it was aware of the situation, and that crews were actively out trying to identify the problem.

After several hours with no further updates, residents in the affected areas grew increasingly worried. Many voiced their concerns to the water district via comments on their Facebook page, but it would be Monday morning before any more information would be provided.

On Monday, the water district posted again, saying, “Our crew has been out since 6 a.m. yesterday morning looking for the problem on the south end of the county. Around 2 they went home to get some rest, but are back out this morning to try and find the problem. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we are working as hard as we can.”

With that, many folks in Emlyn, Pleasant View, and surrounding areas were left wondering if they would be left without water for a second consecutive night. Luckily, that ended up not being the case for most, as the water district made another post Monday evening announcing, “The leak on the south end of the county has been found and repaired. Water is being turned back on. It will take several hours for the lines and tanks to fill back up. Thank you for your patience!”

Boil water advisory announced

Shortly after announcing the repair to the water line was announced, the water district made another post to inform residents of a boil water advisory that had gone into effect for all customers “on Hwy. 25W at Mountain Outreach (Hutton Woods) south to the Tennessee state line, and all side roads in between.”

The advisory was issued as a precautionary measure. Follow the Whitley County Water District’s official Facebook page, or call (606) 549-3600 for more information.