MONTICELLO — Water levels and a forecast for more rain continueto worry county officials as they prepare for possibleflooding.

District 1 Supervisor Carey Hedgepeth said he is still veryconcerned about traffic along East Lincoln Road near the Carmel-NewHope Road intersection.

“It slipped again Monday,” he said. “We had to do some more workon it.”

Severe rains Thursday through Saturday washed out culverts androads throughout the county, but most were serviceable byMonday.

“As far as I know, East Lincoln Road is the only road that isthis severe,” he said.

Hedgepeth said on East Lincoln Road he filled in the area wherethe road was slipping with gravel over the weekend, but had to domore work on it Monday. The road began to slip after a mudslide andslipped again Monday.

“I’m sure I’m eventually going to have to close it. It’s saferight now, but when I close it there won’t be any notice,” he said.”I’m having the appropriate signs made for a detour so newcomerswill know where to go.”

The location of the damage to the road is an additional concern,he said, because just beyond where the westbound lane is slippingthe eastbound lane tops a hill. If the road slips again, westboundtraffic that would have to enter the eastbound lane to avoid theslippage is blind to oncoming traffic, he said.

In the city, Mayor David Nichols is keeping a wary eye on thePearl River. The Pearl’s flood stage in town is 19 feet, a level itsurpassed Friday and has yet to drop below. It stood at 27.9 feetMonday evening after dropping a foot during the day.

Nichols said the river is projected to crest at 29 feet, whichis one foot higher than the level it reached Sunday.

“I don’t think it will get into the town at 29,” he said, “butit will fill Atwood Water Park and Cooper’s Ferry Park.”

Nichols said he was going to Jackson Tuesday morning in anattempt to get a pledge from that city that they would not increasethe amount of discharge from the reservoir.

“As long as they stay at the level they are releasing now, we’llbe OK,” he said. “If they increase the discharge we’ll see someproblems.”

Rainfall doesn’t concern him as much as the reservoir, he said,because the forecast is for continued light rains, which the rivercan handle, but he continues to monitor it closely.

Should the river continue to rise, he said, the town has madewhat preparations it can ahead of time.

“We’re ready with our equipment and our manpower,” the mayorsaid. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. As always,it’s up to Mother Nature.”