BELTON, TX — As water levels continue to rise in Central Texas, Belton city officials want citizens to know they have measures in place to keep people living along Nolan Creek safe.
People in Bell County know the popular swimming area for its floods.
"In 1913 the waters of Nolan Creek rose and destroyed three bridges connecting southern and northern Belton," Bell County Museum Director Coleman Hampton said.
Reminisce of the tragedy still lingers in Yettie Polk Park.
"In that devastating, terrible flood of 1913, the Polk home was washed away, killing Mrs. Yettie Polk and four of her children so the park is named after her because of that tragedy,” Hampton added.
The flood of 1913 is one of many the City of Belton has seen over the years.
"In 1921 there was another flood that wiped out basically most of downtown Belton," Hampton said.
The cities most recent flood happened in 2010 when a tropical storm came up from the south and dumped rain into the region.
City officials said after the 2010 flood, they looked at ways to improve the creek.
"We started studying the drainage basin and figure out what changes need to be made," said Paul Romer, the City of Belton spokesperson.
The city came up with a few things, the most important of which was creating flood protocol to warn people about when they need to evacuate along the creek.
"On Nolan creek there are flood monitors essentially from Killeen all the way to Belton and we monitor those in storm events when we anticipate that the elevation of the creek is going to rise," Romer added.
The flood monitors allow officials to alert residents along the creek of rising water.
"Once they reach a certain level, we initiate some calling of individuals and in some cases, we even go door to door," Romer said.
There are several ways citizens can stay alert when it comes to water levels in Nolan Creek, one of which is tracking the flood monitors.
