Workers who take care of highways and roads in Lyon County were watching the weather today and hoping that predicted overnight thunderstorms did not materialize.
In the interim, flood waters were subsiding in most areas of Lyon County, though Chase County roads remained underwater or too soaked to bear traffic.
As a result, Chase County school officials cancelled classes today.
The Emporia school district’s bus drivers have had to take a few detours and make special arrangements for picking up a few students.
The district’s community relations director, Nancy Horst, said that drivers have had to call families and ask them to meet the bus at a location that would help the drivers avoid long detours.
“Our drivers know which roads are closed by water, so they know how to avoid them,” Horst said.
North Lyon County school bus drivers also have made minor adjustments in their routes to make sure children get to schools in the district.
“Pretty typically, when we get rain in the 3-inch to 4-inch range, it’s our low-water bridges where we have problems,” Superintendent Steve Mollach said this morning.
“If we’ve got kids that live on the south side of the river, that’s where we have trouble. Apparently we didn’t get as much rain north of us. We haven’t had the flooding other places have.
“Maybe I should say ‘yet,’” Mollach added. “Our problem is we’ve got to drive around the sections a little more.”
A spokesperson for the Southern Lyon County school district said the district had been fortunate on Monday, because students had the day off.
Today, some of the bus routes had been extended to avoid low-lying areas, but classes were running on schedule.
The Neosho River stood at 18 feet at 7 a.m. today, after a crest of 19.4 feet late Monday. Flood stage on the Neosho here is 19.9 feet.
The Cottonwood River south of Emporia crested at about 24.5 feet overnight, according the National Weather Service. Without additional rainfall, it is predicted to fall to lower than 10 feet by Saturday morning.
State and county road and bridge workers, however, are watching the weather and preparing for the possibility of additional rainfall.
The National Weather Service forecast a 20 percent of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Wednesday, with a chance of precipitation estimated at 60 percent through the daytime hours and a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday night.
Lyon County Road and Bridge employees added another barricade to a long list of county roads that were closed Monday because of the heavy rainfall. The latest closing is on Road D, south of Old Highway 50.
Meanwhile, water has receded and barriers were being removed at other intersections and roads in the county.
The Kansas Department of Transportation is waiting to see whether the chances of thunderstorms will materialize into heavy rainfall.
The Cottonwood River, which affects traffic south on Kansas Highway 99, came close to causing a diversion of traffic away from 99 and onto a county road to the Kansas Turnpike.
KDOT’s Emporia supervisor Ron Swogar said it would not take much rainfall in the right — or wrong — area to put the river back up and over the roadway.
“We’re just kind of keeping an eyeball on it at this time,” Swogar said.
Workers removed barriers on North Highway 99 about 8:30 p.m. Monday, he added.
Showers and thunderstorms are possible throughout the week until Monday, when forecasters predict a partly cloudy day with a high near 69 degrees.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Too bad they didn't build 99 up higher when it was first constructed. It seems to flood constantly, especially south of Emporia. When we looked at houses to buy, we turned a couple down due to flooding concerns.
April 28, 2009 at 2:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Blue_Dog (anonymous) says...
It is important to remember that if they raise a road they flood everyone on the backside worse. But if you want to work to raise it I will support it. Our farm ground is on the Eastside of Highway 99.
April 28, 2009 at 2:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
I thought that was what culverts were for, to allow water to move under the road instead of over it. I'm no road engineer, though.
April 29, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )