Central City Police Chief Jamie Ramsey says those ignoring barricades in the northeast section of town put into place due to severe flooding will be arrested.
Ramsey says Central City Police and the Centralia Fire Protection District helped evacuate four to five homes late Saturday morning due to rising water levels from the large discharge of Raccoon Lake. At least one home and a mobile home have already started to flood.
The homes and the barricades are on the north and east ends of Harrison, Breese, Morrison and West Junction Streets. He says those causing issues are apparently sightseers and are not welcome.
The flooding has also closed Green Street Road at the Raccoon Creek crossing where water is flowing from the open gates of Raccoon Lake. Several other roads in the bottoms are also impassable, including Brick Hill and Lagoon Road. The Odin Road is also closed due to high water levels from Norton to Green Street Road.
The large release of water from Raccoon Lake has also caused a bridge to be overtopped on Old U.S. 51 near the Centralia Water Plant closing the road from new U.S. at the north end of Central City to Community Beach Road.
The Centralia Water Treatment Plant currently has three gates fully open on the Raccoon Lake Dam to get rid of excess water. At one point overnight a fourth gate was open. Due to the continued rain, the gates are not expected to be closed anytime soon so flooding conditions will remain.
