 This is Shannon Deskins reporting as we've been alluding to this morning we thought we would be here as the Pikeville Fire Department took steps to close one of the floodgates in Pikeville. We knew that 38 feet was that magic number and Paul Maynard, Public Safety Director for the city, we have finally hit that 38 foot mark. Yes we finally got a reading of 38.1 which is when we erect this gate. Obviously the other gate doesn't get erected to 50 feet so the decision was made quickly. We already had a crew on standby. They're here and they're in the process of putting that gate up now. Okay now what this means for you if you're traveling anywhere in the city of Pikeville is that the bypass road that's gonna go in front of Pikeville High School is now closed at that point of where you can get up on us 23 so it's closed at the lower bowls edition on one side and then here at the middle bowls on the other so traffic cannot pass through anymore. Yeah they still have access to the ramp they'll be able to get off of the bypass if they're heading I guess northbound. They'll still be able to get to the ramp but they will not have flow through to get through the gate to go on to Pikeville High School. Now let's talk about this process that's going on behind me. I mean it's taking we've got a couple dozen men here working on that. All this is stored in a building over there but they're putting it up and this isn't something they do very often. This is the second time this has only happened. Yeah exactly in the history of the flood gate since it's been here since the cut-through project this is the second erection of it. The first one was back in 2015 when we pressed it at 42 feet but what people don't realize is we do drills on this gate as well at least once or twice a year they'll bring all the guys down they go through it that way when we do get in a situation like this it goes pretty seamlessly they get it up very quickly and the citizens should know that these guys are just they're highly trained individuals they really get the job done and we're really proud of them. Alright so just to let you know flood stage in the city of 5-4 for the Levisa Fork is 35 feet at 38 feet that's when we said earlier that action was going to happen and that action is going on now we've hit 38.1 I believe at the 12 o'clock reading. 38.1 we're anticipating a 39-6 crest but what people need to realize even though we hit that crest mark this gate won't come down it'll stay there until the river dramatically drops and the reason we do that you never know what could happen you know later on tonight tomorrow while I have you if that really it was still up around 38 we may take another rain and would cause us just to come right back out and put it back up so as a precautionary measure it stays in place to get that dramatic drop in the river. Alright so two things to remember the river has not crested yet in Pikeville we're at 38 feet but the big thing is if you're traveling in Pikeville you're not going to be able to pass through this overpass to access Pikeville High School on a bypass again traffic can get up on off 23 but they just can't come through anymore so I think we're gonna step out of the way let these guys finish what they're doing but historic day like we said this is only happened this is the second time this has only happened this has happened ever so we're gonna continue to film this and we'll bring this story to you later but just remember high water is still happening the rain right now has stopped but just continue to watch the water I'm Shannon Deskins reporting in Pikeville