HARTFORD — There are more questions now than answers regarding a logjam near the Hartford access ramp east of Hartford in Coffey County on the Neosho River.
Officials have been told that the jam is caused by a cottonwood tree that is lodged under the bridge. The tree won’t allow any logs pass, creating a large logjam that is visible from the deck of the bridge and from the roadway east of Hartford.
Rick Frevert, Lyon County Emergency Management director, said he heard of the logjam Monday morning and heard it happened over the weekend.
“It’s gotten worse since,” Frevert said this morning.
The jam is in Coffey County, but could effect the Hartford Levy, the flow of the river and the bridge the logjam started under. The property belongs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the county is working with that agency to see what can be done.
Lyon County Flood Plain Manager Samuel Seeley said this morning that he has contacted the Corps of Engineers and Frevert has contacted Coffey County Emergency Management. Seeley said until the flood water goes down there are more questions than answers.
“Until the water goes down we won’t know what to do,” Seeley said. “Right now there are a lot of questions to be answered. Once the water goes down it will be easier to answer those questions.”