By Marla Jones, Managing Editor • marla@southerntorch.com

RAINSVILLE, Ala. — Residents of County Road 560, past the new Chavies Bridge in Rainsville, had quite the scare last night as the floodwaters of Chavies Creek started rising. 

Mary Lou Shankles, a resident of the area since 1960, could only remember one time that the water had ever got as high as it did last night.  

The small bridge leading to their neighborhood had water white capping over it around midnight. Ms. Shankles started calling her neighbors to warn them since the road beside her house is a dead end, making it impassable if flooded. Several neighbors did receive flood damage. One had water to the vents of the house and the back of their shop building washed away. The other had a fence knocked down due to the swift waters and had water up to the front door.  

After the scare was over, Mrs. Shankles only had some of her landscaping rocks washed away, after having waist-deep water in her yard. To ask her, she is not lucky she is blessed. 

“I trust in God. My faith in God kept me from fearing this,” stated Mrs. Shankles. 

Shankles’s main concern was that drivers were getting out and moving the barricades to go over the bridge. “The water was knee-deep on the bridge and I was so afraid they would be washed off the road.”  

After the storm, the Rainsville Police Department had to block the small bridge to traffic. More rock was delivered to the washed-out driveways. Neighbors quickly started working on the cleanup at the first daylight. 

The community showed how much they care for each other with their strong work ethic, to get their little piece of paradise cleaned up so quickly.