HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (WTVF) — A lot of our area saw heavy rain this weekend. Yet along Country Club Lane in Hopkinsville, the water still hasn't fully receded.
For days, it's been a mystery to the assistant director of the Hopkinsville Public Works department.
"This doesn’t usually hold water," said Dave Herndon. "It was kind of creeping up towards the parking lot, and we don’t want anyone’s vehicle to flood or anything like that."
Then, it became pretty apparent that the blockage wasn't a coincidence.
"They had just completely dammed up about half of, about half the culvert you see there," said Herndon.
He even considered maybe some kids pulled some kind of prank until he found some damming evidence.
"They’re not tree huggers I guess," joked Herndon.
It turns out the culprits are some eager beavers.
"I thought in my mind, they were working on the Taj Mahal of beaver dams, they had a little subdivision going on," he said.
Just down the way, on a nearby creek, it was a similar story. The little critters stacked sticks and debris so high, it took heavy machinery to remove the beaver dam and get water flowing again. The removal was Friday but by Monday, the water was dammed back up.
"That’s all new stuff there," pointed out Herndon. "Building a nice little community over here."
But because nature's little construction workers are so active, the Hopkinsville Public Works department may have no choice but to evict the eager beavers.
"Until you can relocate them, they’re just going to turn back around and start working again," he said.
This leads us to Herndon's next big mystery: actually finding the beavers.
"I’ve never actually seen them, seen them working," he said.
Hopkinsville Public Works plans to set out humane animal traps, in hopes of capturing and relocating the animals. They hope to settle them in a stream that won't cause any nearby homes to flood.
