Critical pump supplying the northern half of the county fails.
(MOBILE, Ala.) - Clarke county is preparing for a frigid night and working to fix a critical pump supplying water to the northern part of the county.
A slow, steady drizzle.
Ordinarily, that's not a big deal in Clarke County, Ala., but with temperatures set to drop into the teens Thursday night it is a big deal.
School has been dismissed for Friday, and even basketball games have been cancelled for Clarke County High.
Icy highways might not be Clarke County's biggest problem. Emergency Management say a water pump critical to supplying the Thomasville area has failed. Grove Hill is also having a water shortage. That means just about every community north of U.S. 84 is facing a critical water shortage.
Roy Waite heads up the Clarke County Emergency Management Agency. He and other decision makers are meeting to find ways to keep the water flowing to the northern half of the county, especially local hospitals and nursing homes affected by the shortage.
"We are shipping portable water to those facilities now," he says, "not to be used in medical procedures or anything like that, but just for flushing. Things ike that."
Repairs are a priority. Until then, customers are being asked to conserve. For Grove Hill, the nearby city of Jackson will fill the gap in a unique way.
"We used this idea during Hurricane Ivan. We tie two plugs together (with a pump on a fire truck) and transfer water from the Jackson system to the McVey system, then McVey to grove Hill," Water Board member Paul South said. "It's enough to give them water protection, hopefully, through this cold weather."
