Most of the muddy water that flooded Cannon-Gouge Park at Happy Valley High School has receded, but the extent to which the water damaged the ball fields and other facilities remains unclear.

As of Monday, officials with Happy Valley High School hadn’t had a chance to inspect the damage to the park which houses the school’s baseball field, softball field, and football practice field. HV principal Bernie Young said that Elizabethton Electric has not cleared Cannon-Gouge Park to be inspected due to warped and leaning utility poles.

A quick look at the ball fields, however, makes it apparent that damage has been done. Large sections of the baseball field’s outfield fence are laying on the ground while a small section of the softball field fence is down.

“There were some lawn machinery and different type of baseball equipment along with some football equipment that was stored in one of the buildings that were affected,” said Young. “So this doesn’t just affect baseball and softball, it also affects football as well.”

With baseball and softball season closing in quickly, Young said that other baseball clubs and organizations from the community have reached out to help.

“Elizabethton (High School) has been gracious to offer their baseball field for our team to practice,” said Young. “The city down here at the park has offered their field for the softball team to practice. Science Hill has also offered some fields for our guys to work out on. The community has been really good to call and offer their facilities.”

Over Saturday, heavy and consistent rainfall brought flooding all across Carter County, and just like the officials at Happy Valley, county leaders are accessing the damage across the county.

“The primary damage we are seeing is to the roadway and things like that,” said Carter County EMA Director Gary Smith. “We had powerlines down yesterday due to fallen trees. Major structural damage to buildings, I haven’t seen anything yet. We do have some that have been impacted.”

Smith went on to say that there hasn’t been any reports of major home damage yet.

“It’s just now time for people to start calling,” said Smith. “We have been out trying to do initial surveys to see what we can find. As we see things, we stop and talk to people. Most of the stuff was water around homes, but I have seen quite a few that water was underneath.”