After this weekend's rainstorm closed nearly 50 roads in Boone County, all but one road has reopened as of Monday. According to Darren Kimbrel, the northern district superintendent of Boone County Public Works, the majority of the flooded roads were lower laying and at low water crossings in rural areas.
Kimbrel said most of the roads were no longer flooded within 12 hours.
“It goes down as fast as it comes up,” Kimbrel said.
Although yesterday’s floods were severe, Kimbrel said that severity is rare and mostly due to the combination of rain water and snow on the ground.
"Our roads are getting to where they’re capable of holding up to anywhere from two-to-four inches of rain in an hour,” said Kimbrel.
The roads closed yesterday were mostly in rural areas, and Route ZZ South is the only state road closed in Boone County, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation Traveler Information Map. Mike Schupp, MoDot area engineer, said the department is prepared to handle flooded roads.
“All we can do is close the roads, put signs up, warn traffic that the road’s closed due to flooding,” Schupp said.
Schupp said the likelihood of flooding depends on the amount of rain expected and how saturated the ground is when rain begins to fall.
However, Kimbrel said Boone County Public Works is improving roadways when it comes to flooding.
“There’s been a lot of plans in play for the last year-and-a-half that we’re trying to get new ditches, build the roads up, get the creeks to where they flow without creating erosion problems,” said Kimbrel.
For more information on road closures in Boone County, visit the Public Works website at http://showmeboone.com/publicworks/