Floating Propane Tanks Temporarily Shut Down Reeds Spring
By
KSPR News
By
Joanna Small
Story Created:
Jun 29, 2008
Story Updated:
Jun 29, 2008
Head south of Springfield on Highway 65 and you'll run into a barrage of water.
Reeds Spring in Stone County was one of the wettest cities in the Ozarks, drowning in about 6 inches of precipitation this morning.
Typically you don't see water rushing down the road, but that’s what residents in the town of less than 500 witnessed Saturday.
And with the waves came something else unexpected and often times, dangerous.
"There's a tank here, washed in here."
Jesse Butler’s garden played host to three uninvited guests today: 5 feet of water, and 2 propane tanks.
“I just stayed here and watched and rode it out ‘til it was over,” Jesse says.
And when it was, his garden was too.
Potatoes were shredded, corn was flattened, and two giant metal cylinders sat on top of what used to be ripening vegetables.
“I think we've picked up 8 or 10 tanks."
That’s Ron Tingwald of Town and Country Propane.
He says all those tanks were empty.
The water carried tanks all over the city, landing them in fields, and Jesse Butler's garden- which apparently isn't that unusual.
“I remember the flood of ’93…when it hit the Bull Creek Park over there towards Forsyth, we had one tank over there that made it 8 miles,” Ron recalls.
The scare this time came when a tank attached to a gas line at a mobile home park broke free, and left natural gas seeping into the open air.
Emergency crews cut off the gas quickly without any problems.
The water, however, has caused a number of problems.
“We can them and eat them through the winter time."
But not this year.
Thanks to the flood, Jesse's vegetables will come out of the produce aisle instead his backyard.
Jesse says he still may try to plant a late garden, but that's a long-shot.
He also says he lost a kid goat in the flood because he wasn't able to get to the barn in time.
Town and Country Propane has a tip to prevent problems with gas lines in future floods; if you know the water's coming, just close the valve to the tank.
Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:34 PM Marie Tingwald wrote ...
It was not natural gas but probane.
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