Minor, insignificant flooding on roads as snow melts, county engineer says

As snow and ice melt, Henry County engineer Jake Hotchkiss said there is some flooding but nothing noteworthy.

Other the weekend, there were a couple of roads that had 'minor flash flooding,” Hotchkiss said during a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

On Monday, Perkins Road, east of Lowell, was closed because of flooding, as was a road near Mt. Union, Hotchkiss said.

'We've had some calls about intersections where water was not going through the pipes, but most of them took care of themselves Saturday,” Hotchkiss said. Saturday, Feb. 23, temperatures reached into the mid-40s.

'The Skunk (River) is going down, but there's been ice jams, which make it harder to predict what it's going to do,” Hotchkiss said.

Hotchkiss said that there will be some problems with gravel roads in the future as snow in ditches begins to melt because there's 'nowhere for the water to go,” but there is nothing significant at this time.

'The weather is better than what we've been having,” Hotchkiss said. 'Gravel roads look good. Protected areas that have trees where the sun can't get to them still have ice on them.

'We still have a long way to go because when this stuff thaws, there will be a lot of moisture,” Hotchkiss continued. 'We'll spot rock where we can.”

Last week, plow trucks were sent out on Sunday, Feb. 17, to clean up the couple of inches of snow received Saturday into Sunday morning. They worked until noon. Monday was a holiday, but plow trucks were sent out to prepare the pavements for the public, Hotchkiss said.

On Tuesday, territory operators were blading and worked on maintenance and cleaned trucks. They mixed more salt and sand and worked on signs. Wednesday, blades and trucks were out at 5 a.m. to work on snow and ice and worked until 5 p.m.

Thursday, territory operators were sent out early to work on ice and snow. Friday, they continued working on roads and hauled sand to replenish the sand pile.