UPDATE (9:50 a.m.): After reaching out again, 23ABC received a statement from Kern County Public Works on Fay Ranch Road.
"Fay Ranch Road is county-maintained and the department manages the soil berm next to the road. The area near the riverbanks off Fay Ranch Road is not a levee, but a soil berm that is two to three feet in height."
Ranchers in Weldon are attempting to repair and remove water from a public road in the path of the South Fork River.
Following storms and the recent snowpack melt, the South Fork River, an off-branch of the Kern River, has risen. The rising waters have caused at least two Weldon roads to be flooded: Sierra Avenue, which is the main road going from Weldon to Kernville, and Fay Ranch Road, which leads to the community of Fay Canyon. The suspected cause of the flooding is a breach of the levee.
After approximately a week of flooding on Fay Ranch Road, Weldon ranchers have begun repairing the road themselves, no longer waiting on the county or state. Residents could see the ranchers with a backhoe attempting to block water from the South Fork as it ran over the road.
23ABC News reached out to Kern County Public Works and the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) asking who was responsible for Fay Ranch Road, however, both agencies were unable to provide an answer.
