Road crews continue to repair damage from heavy rain, floods
Boone County Public Works crews on Tuesday continued to repair damage from the weekend storms.
According to the Boone County Office of Emergency Management, six roads in the county are closed because of flooding.
Crews worked on River Oaks Road Tuesday morning. They had to repair a road bank that had been eroded by flood water.
Bryan Boyce, road maintenance superintendent for Boone County Public Works, said half of the road crews are repairing damage and the other half are on regular maintenance duty.
Boyce said crews had to cancel all projects planned for the week to take care of flood repairs.
He said crews are always prepared for storms, but being prepared for rainstorms is harder than being prepared for ice or snowstorms. He said stormwater damage is hard to predict.
He said what the crews have repaired should help prevent some of the damage expected from the next heavy rain forecasted for Tuesday night through Thursday morning.
Boyce said the hit on the public works budget is inconclusive, but said the storm repairs will most likely not have an impact on it.
The city of Columbia’s Park and Recreation Department also has crews repairing damage from the rain.
Crews continue to go through parks and trails to clean up debris and try to fix gravel paths.
Mike Snyder, Park Development superintendent, said crews are used to cleaning up after floods because most of the trails are next to a creek, stream or river.
He said they all know that the parks and trails get flooded at least three or four times a year.
After a heavy rain, crews check priority trails first, Snyder said. He said the MKT Trail is considered a priority because it’s used the most.
Then crews check the other trails and parks, such as Bear Creek and Hinkson Creek trails.
Snyder said crews remove debris and mud from the pathways first to make them functional, then they will go back and take care of the smaller surface issues.
For the most up to date information on road closures, click here.
