Photo from Google Earth of Two Rivers Bridge.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- A second letter has been mailed. The owners of two boats in the Little Maumelle River must respond by mid-August to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Two houseboats broke free from River Valley Marina during the May 2011 flood. They floated down river and became entangled. Both are still there, visible from the Two Rivers Bridge and even satellite.
One of the boats is half-sunken in the middle of the river, and the other is submerged up to its fiberglass roof. The battered remnants of an air-conditioner unit still attached to that roof.
Laurie Driver with the Corps of Engineers discussed River Valley Marina, and their connection to these boats.
"We have released the marina owner with the caveat that if something else came up, and we could identify [the debris] was theirs, they would have the responsibility to clean that up," Driver said.
By August 15, the boat owners, not the marina, must address when they will remove their debris from the river. If not, the Corps of Engineers says it will refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney's office.
"Hopefully they will respond back to us and work with a plan to get that cleaned up and hopefully resolve this issue with debris in the river," Driver said.
She added the Corps of Engineers is getting to the end of the road with what it can do in this matter.
Driver said they would need Congressional authorization and funding to clean up the Little Maumelle River themselves, because the debris is not in the main navigation channel, the Arkansas River.