WASHED OUT Rain leaves roads a mess County crews work to restore roadways

Curt Drake, maneuvering the blade on his grader with surgical skill, quickly removed a large, contrary limb from a low-water bridge in the northwest part of Allen County Monday afternoon.
It was just one of many instances of repairing and cleaning up the county’s 1,000 miles of roads, following several days of rain that included a downpour at the start of the weekend.
Bill King, director of Public Works, figures it will take his crew most of this week to repair washouts and remove limbs and trees from driving lanes, chores employees have had a lot of practice with lately.
Spring was wet and then a dry spell set in, which finally was broken with an inch of soaking rain at mid-July, followed by more intense precipitation later in July and early this month.
“We’ve been busy,” King said, as he listened to one conversation after another about road problems over the department’s radio network.
Some washouts have been repaired a couple of times the past two weeks, and if forecasts are accurate a third time may crop up soon.
“I know they get a little tired of fixing a place and then having to do it again right away,” sometimes before new ballast has had time to settle, King said.
Drake’s chores were eclectic Monday afternoon.
As he traveled west on West Virginia road, he encountered several places where rainwater had scoured edges of slopes in the road, which required a couple of passes with his motor grader to refashion. Another place water had boiled over the road so much that rock was washed away in large sections, leaving hardpan subgrade glistening in sun breaking occasionally through gathering clouds.

KING SAID five graders and seven haul trucks were occupied with repairs this week.
He allowed that during an eight-hour shift about 800 tons of crushed rock would be ferried throughout the county to fill washouts and give graders fresh material to spread.
A few workers were called out over the weekend to remove limbs and trees from heavily traveled roads, but there wasn’t much road work that could be done until Monday, when surges of rainwater had subsided.
Farmers have welcomed the rain, coming just in time to revitalize soybeans that had been in growth holding patterns and help some corn that hadn’t suffered too much from drought conditions.
“It’s hard to say we get too much rain for July,” King observed, and he is reluctant to complain, knowing how important moisture is for fall crops.
Living on a small spread north of Iola, King is pleased that his ponds have filled to the brim, along with every other every stockwater pond in the county.

ROCK ROADS sustained the most damage from gushing rainfall, but hard-surfaced thoroughfares weren’t immune.
“We had some pretty good pieces of asphalt washed out, too,” he said, with more damage in the south and southeast part of the county.
“There were places that got six or more inches down there,” he said.
Bridges always are a concern when water in creeks and streams rises.
“We have 216 bridges 20 feet in length or longer, and I don’t have any idea how many box culverts and pipes,” carrying water under roads, King said.
With the recent spate of heavy rain, it’s a pretty good bet King’s machinery operators are on a first-name basis with most of the bridges and areas when runoff easily courses over roads.