Holt County residents are evacuating the Big Lake area and bracing for flood water seven feet higher than flood stage. Holt County Clerk Kathy Klunkel says the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t manage the flood control very well, and it’s hurting the county.

Klunkel says this is the fifth year in a row Holt County has seen damaging floods, and it’s hurting the county socially and economically. She says many families are moving out and not coming back.

More than 80 percent of the residents in the Big Lake area have moved out following the levee breach on Monday. Currently water is at 25 feet, and the record height is 26.6. Klunkel says she has no doubts it will top that this year.

Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers is helping sandbag and repair levees in cooperation with local levee districts. Klunkel says they are being extremely helpful now, but they should be more proactive than reactive in the future.