Local emergency crews have responded to a couple of crashes, fallen trees and flooding issues in the early hours of Thursday’s storm, Police Chief David Westrick said.
Responses started Thursday morning with trees fallen from high winds, including one at Fairview Road close to McCloskey Road. Once the rain started pouring down around the noon hour, police and other responders were helping with flooding issues such as at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Meridian Street where it reached the sidewalks there, Westrick said.
“We try to get city crews out there to unclog the drains as fast as they can,” Westrick told the Free Lance. “The problem is the volume of water coming down is so fast.”
Oftentimes leaves will fall and create a dam of sorts on the drains, aggravating the flooding problem, he said.
Some other areas with significant flooding included Fourth Street, College Street, Line Street, Valley View Road and Mesa Drive, along with some issues on Highway 25, he said.
“All of the police officers were out there kind of monitoring,” the chief said.
“It’s been not horrible,” he said, “but more rains coming. We’re trying to be proactive.”
As for traffic accidents, he said there were a couple but “nothing major” as of 3 p.m. Westrick had advice if drivers come across bad flooding.
“Just pull over and give us a call,” he said. “We’ll get somebody out there. We’re kind of one of those cities that likes participation.”
