Heavy rain has taken toll on county roads

Heavy rains ranging from 1 to 4 inches that fell in mere hours on already-soaked ground in Central Nebraska Thursday night washed out several roadways.

"We're setting out barricades today," said Hall County Public Works Director Casey Sherlock.

Southeast of Doniphan, road closed signs were posted on Shady Bend Road just south of Rosedale Road where the roadway collapsed around a culvert.

A 6-foot-deep chasm ran 12 feet across the road, with the remnants of 3.5 inches of rainwater running like a river below.

"There's a pretty good hole here," Sherlock said.

The dark soil of the road bed was exposed with the road gravel laying in mounded heaps between the shoulder of Shady Bend Road and the nearby fields of corn.

Sherlock said a Hall County Sheriff's Department deputy discovered the road damage early Friday morning.

No injuries were known to have occurred from the road collapse or from vehicles losing control on the mushy roads throughout the southeast corner of Hall County, Sherlock said.

East of Hall County, as many as 40 roads were under water in Hamilton County when the bulk of the rain hit Thursday night.

Hamilton County Emergency Management Director Kirt Smith said about 15 roads still had water running across as of mid-afternoon Friday. About five of those were closed to traffic east of Stockham.

"It's mostly along the Blue River in the southern part of the county," Smith said of the heaviest damage.

No structural or building damage had been reported in nearby Adams County, but 10 roads there were closed Friday due to the rain, officials said.

Adams County Emergency Management Director Loren Uden said rural roads northeast of Hastings and northwest and northeast of Kenesaw were hardest hit.

"We had damage to the roads from rains earlier in the week. Dirt that had been brought in and packed in is all gone," Uden said. "(Culvert) tubes are exposed … some are just missing."

While the average rainfall around Hastings was 2.5 inches, Uden said some areas around Kenesaw reported as much as 4 to 4.5 inches of rain falling within a four-hour time period.

Roads closed in Adams County included those east of Blaine to Maxon on Lochland Road, Lochland from Maxon to the county line, 42nd and Blaine, 26th and Pawnee, and Pawnee north of 26th.

Sherlock advised drivers on rural roads to use caution as gravel roads remained soft and in damaged condition.

Crews have been busy since early June repairing some $180,000 of road damage in Hall County. Sherlock said an application for federal financial assistance is being prepared to help cover the cost.

Sherlock estimated the washout on Shady Bend Road will take two to three weeks to repair. The culvert will have to be removed, a new concrete bed installed and dirt brought in to repack the road, he said.

He hoped to have Shady Bend Road reopened to traffic by early August, before the start of the Hall County Fair.