Roads closed, washed out in Pott and Lincoln
Heavy thunderstorms and torrential rainfall in the past few days have caused widespread damage to roadways and has ruined hay crops in Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties.
Lincoln County Emergency Manager Wendi Marcy said a number of roads were closed in the county, including some highways on Sunday.
Marcy said there was one water rescue at 2 a.m. Sunday morning at 750 and 3500 Roads.
“The rainfall averaged six inches with some northern parts of the county receiving up to six inches,” she said.
In Pottawatomie County, District 1 Commissioner Melissa Dennis reported, “No roads are closed. We have nine roads with major damage, but no bridges are out,” she added.
Dennis attributed much of the problem to the freezing weather on roads in February with the major snowstorm that are now starting to show their damage with the recent heavy rains.
“We had 4 ¼ inches of rainfall in my district,” she related on Monday.
Marcy said as of 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, “We had closures on every highway in Lincoln County except SH 99. Once water had receded, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation had significant amounts of debris that crews had to clean up.”
On Monday, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation reported SH 18 south of Chandler was back open. Marcy said all other highways were back open by sometime Sunday.
“County roads got hit hard,” she noted.
“A herd of cattle had to be evacuated from U.S. 177 and SH 66 due to the Deep Fork getting out of its banks. The Deep Fork finally crested at 1:30 a.m. Sunday at 25 feet.
“Farmers all over the county lost hay crops and round bales,” she stated.
On Monday, she said District 2 Commissioner Marlon Miller was reporting the following roads that remained closed:
3400 Road between Highway 66 and 900; 900 Road between 3390 and 3400 Roads; 3380 between 920 and 930 Roads; 960 between 3290 and 3300 Roads; 3310 between 930 and 940 with a bridge scheduled to be replaced.
She said District 1 Commissioner Carl Munson was reporting the following roads closed due to washouts. 820 Road between 3520/3530; 770 Road between 3420/3430; 800 Road between 3460/3470; and 780 Road between 3460/3470.
Marcy said District 3 Commissioner Lee Doolen reported no roads closed in his district.
Dennis stated the damage in her district “was to hard-surface roads. We have to cut them down to the base and then rework it and overlay the road,” she noted, in describing the process.
She mentioned no damage had been done to bridges.
“One mile of road we fixed cost us $75,000. When it rains it slows us down two days,” she stated.
Dennis estimated that she had 25 to 30 miles of roads in her district scattered throughout that have damage. “And that’s just in my district. The other two districts have the same problem,” she stressed.
She explained that what happened with the extreme freezing weather in February is just now showing up with the warmer weather and the rainfall.
“The freezing weather caused the roads to expand. Once it warmed up, they contracted. And then when it rains as much as it has, the water gets underneath the asphalt causing a major pothole.
“We can’t patch it until it dries out and it’s going to continue to rain the next two or three days,” she was thinking earlier this week.
With it costing the amount per mile to fix a road, she emphasized, “We can only fix a little at a time with the all the damage that has been down. It will take us all the way up to August to get them fixed,” she estimates.
And, compounding the problem, she pointed out, “When it gets really hot, you can’t get on them. We come in very early on those days,” she said.