Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Newport Levee Wall Sound Despite Sliding

Part of the Newport floodwall has slipped but the city manager says it's nothing to worry about. Tom Fromme says the patch of hillside between the Taylor Southgate bridge and the Licking River started to slide a few months ago, but has become more visible recently.

"Any danger would be to the surface, the grass surface, of the floodwall itself. So what this is is basically the top sod, where the grass is, became unattached from the clay cap underneath there."

Fromme says ground slippage on the wall isn't very deep and doesn't compromise the wall's integrity.

"A few years back we had a few summers where there was very little rainfall and I think everything dried out. And over the past couple of years we've had a large number of slides at various locations within the city, including the floodwall."

Fromme says the floodwall is inspected every year by city engineers and the Army Corps of Engineers. He says there's always some issues, but the wall is solid enough to do its job.

"We just repaired a slip on the floodwall two years ago near Washington Avenue. So this is at least the second one we've had on the floodwall."

He says if there were to be a major flood event, Newport would have to replace some grass along the wall, but that would be about it.

The Newport floodwall is a segment of a levee that reaches from Wilder, down the Licking River, and upstream along the Ohio River to Bellevue. The Army Corps of Engineers reports the entire project was authorized by Congress a year after the flood of 1937. Construction was completed in 1951.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.