Heavy rainfall on saturated soil creates perfect storm

Potential potholes or sinkholes could show up later

The Hamilton County Engineer’s office has had to close about a dozen roads around the county as a result of the rainfall yesterday. But County Engineer Ryan Weidemann feels the water will go down quickly.

"We had 50 to 100 locations that had water over them last night," said Weidemann, "If you do come across an area where the water is over the road, turn around and find another route."

Weidemann said that most of the areas that have been closed are in the southern part of the county where over four inches of rain was reported.

"Most of these will go down fairly quickly," he said.

He expects most of the roads which were closed Thursday will be open Friday or at least by the weekend.

The rain, he said, wasn’t excessive, but the soil was fully saturated, and there was no place for it to go. The heavy flow in the ditches could create problems in the future.

"Sometimes sink holes can develop next to culverts or bridges," he explained, "They don’t show up for one or more days. If we see them, we put up a lathe or signage, but occasionally, when the void starts low, it may be two weeks later."

It’s one of the many reasons not to drive through water running across the road. As sinkholes might appear much later, the engineer’s office would appreciate notification of any areas that these show up, if not already marked, by calling their offices at 515-832-9520.

But Weidemann is hopeful that things will dry out well over the next two weeks. The summer road repair work period was nearly over when the long stretch of rain began. The county engineer’s office had several road projects in process throughout the county.

"We’ve got one project on 370th St. that we were well into, we were making good progress and only needed 3 days to finish," he said. "Now we have gone on 3 weeks without progress."

But most of the work in the county has been done, with paved routes completed.

"Our challenge is to get everything repaired and then get out of the farmers way," he said. "The fourteen day forecast looks much more favorable."

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Road closures due to rainfall

The Hamilton County Engineer's office notified county residents Thursday that the following roads have been closed in the county due to water in the roadway. Do not enter a road which has been closed to water, please find an alternative route. These routes may be cleared sometime on Friday, or it may take the weekend for the waters to recede.

-Queens Ave between 380th St and 390th St is closed due to water over the road.

-290th St between Ziegler Ave and Zublin Ave will be closed today at 1100. There is water over the road in this area.

-390th St between Briggs Woods Road (State Hwy 17) and Kantor Ave is closed due to water over the road.

-Lockwood Ave between 250th St and 265th St is closed due to water over the road.

-350th St. will be closed between Wilson Ave. and Xircus Ave. due to water over the road

-The intersection of 360th St and Wilson Ave is closed due to water over the road thru the entire intersection.

These areas will remain closed until the water has receded.