SHAWNEETOWN, Ill. (WSIL) -- The widespread flooding continues to impact the region. In Shawneetown, the Shawneetown Fire Department and Ameren collaborated to install a temporary power substation.
Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, Martin Wooden, says Ameren crews were prepared to set up the temporary substation as a preventative measure on the eastern outskirts of Shawneetown.
Wooden says the Old Shawneetown power is de-energized and the portable substation is now operational. This has prevented any power outages in the area. Officials say the main priority now is to monitor levees along the riverfront.
Forecasts predict crest levels reaching 52.3 feet on Tuesday. This morning at 4:30 a.m., the river stage in Old Shawneetown measured 50.11 feet, according to EMA officials.
"We have a pump set up down there, a portable pump that IDOT has supplied us to help us with capacity to get the water from one part of the city to the other in order to get to the main pump," says Wooden.
He says sandbagging operations are also underway in New Haven, Junction, and Equality, with sandbags set up along seepage areas along the levees. As of last Sunday, Gallatin County students have helped fill 28,000 sandbags, according to Wooden.
Emergency Management officials say the 24-hour levee surveillance will start today and continue until crest levels recede.
