MikeMooreMedia
NC DOT Rockingham County Storm Update 08.09.24
Mike Moore media for getting an update now on Tropical Storm Debbie and its impact on Rockingham County have on the line Spencer Odell Rockingham County maintenance engineer for North Carolina Department of Transportation his crews have been very very busy as you can imagine hey Spencer everybody out now going this morning already you know you get started really with your crews on a regular day but I know you've got little extra things going on now but a normal day would be what start around seven o'clock you know typically handling either call-ins or a lot of reactive work obviously right now it's not a normal time no so I kind of give us an overview of yesterday and what was going on here in the county so yesterday crews reported at normal time seven o'clock we kept an eye on the radar storms came through throughout the day our first tree report came in around six seventeen in the morning and then from then on it was full hands on deck all hands on deck mm-hmm we had four four base crews but they split up through the day we have twenty eight employees here and so at any given point during the day they may have been broken up into about three person groups mm-hmm just depending on how many trees were getting caught in at any particular time yeah okay and I know when you and I talked last night it was right around sixty trees down so where's what's that number now we're eighty two eighty two wow okay so lots of trees down and sadly one fatality here in Rockingham County and the Williamsburg community that was last night elderly woman tree fell on her mobile home and I saw the pictures of that this morning posted one of the triad TV stations that looked like that tree just kind of sliced right through that mobile home down to the the foundation there so bring us up to date on what's going on today with DLT crews today we're making sure that trees or roadways are being opened right now I'm aware of two possibilities for road closures by I'm waiting to get that confirmed we have Lickforth Creek Road and Paul Paul Road where there's trees within in the power lines so we're waiting for utilities get out there so that we can cut the tree and move from the roadway currently we only have one road closure due to high water that's over on River Road and that's from deep Springs Church Road to Settle Bridge Road so if you're in that area please try to just be mindful we just opened up River Road at the bridge down at the pond near the golf course I'm not sure of the road names off the top but we just opened that section yeah okay so that that's a deep Springs yes sir yeah okay always a always a flood area for sure there okay so so working on that today and I know when we talked last night you said those trees were down everywhere and and so you really are in and kind of a safety mode now I believe you're saying and cleanup will start next as soon as possible so what else is going on around the county today that you're involved in today we have three crews that are operating throughout the county we're looking for any hydroplaning areas so any type of high shoulders we're trying to clip and get the water off the road as quick as possible looking for any down trees at any high water that's that's basically what we're doing like so we have three crews out and then we have two to three additional trucks going around with one or two people in it they're just kind of browsing years mm-hmm yeah okay just traveling around the area I want to go back to what you said just a moment ago about hydroplaning and getting the water off the roadway I never really thought about you doing that so what do you do how does that work well we do it however we can in a very general statement we have trucks of plows on it so fortunately with the plows we can go and put the shoulders down a little bit lower okay if need be you know we can get out there with the shovel the issue with that is you know we we are just making sure the roads are open and every little spot we we're not going to be able to get to right away but any any areas where the whole lane is flooded you know I kind of ask for people to please call in let us know we have croplums that are filled up with water so we're working as fast as we can to get everything open mm-hmm yeah so if someone sees a down tree and or water high water what they should call 911 is that right yes sir how that works is 911 will receive the call and they send a report directly to us so we get any reports of road closures from Rockingham County Creek Hall mm-hmm so we're well connected with emergency services okay tell me about the rivers they they had not crested but I'm hearing some things about Hall River today make me cresting by this afternoon so maybe just bring us up to date on that Spencer with with all of our rivers in the area yes we're keeping out on that earlier this morning looking at I believe it was the National Weather Service one of my supervisors was saying the Dan River should crest sometime around eight a.m. this morning but we are keeping it out on that so typically what that means is it'll get to a certain height say 19 foot and then after that point it'll start going lower that's really our main flood concern is whenever it reaches that peak mm-hmm but even then it does not necessarily mean that the flood will receive immediately as it goes down yeah okay all right so that's something keeping an eye on today for sure yes it's not just the big rivers creaks and creaks and just other low-lying areas that are susceptible to flooding you know are also prime candidates mm-hmm those being and I think probably if anyone who's lived here in Rockingham County for any any time kind of knows where those areas are but for for newcomers perhaps like you said some of that you just know we're going to flood well what are those areas that we can always watch out for yes sir um river road mm-hmm pretty much a large extent of river road anywhere from deep springs all up to settle bridge road wolf Island Road at Wolf Island Creek Oregon Hill Road Berry Hill Road I'm drawing a blank now but there's there's roughly about 10 roads oh yeah okay Dan Valley Road there's another one mm-hmm now no uh Westland Church Road filling that out there Bethanyam Church Road oh yeah yeah here in Eden yeah that's always a challenge area area there for sure I know a new bridge it's going in there as you go in to Madison uh so much higher there um as you're going in say um you know into the downtown area as they're constructing that but that's always been an area there so looks like that's probably going to solve some problems there for the future yes sir yeah okay all right anything else we need to talk about Spencer the main thing is if you uh avoid I would avoid traveling it's at all costs um our crews are out there make sure everything is as open and safe to the public if you do see anything please report it that's the only way that we're going to know in some parts of the county as if you report it yeah we do have guys out traveling and looking for stuff but if you report it we'll get a handle as soon as possible okay very good so again call 911 on that and uh you're in constant communication with them and uh you get that taken care of as soon as possible uh we talked a little bit earlier about uh really you're you're working um in a public safety um situation now for everyone um but when do you expect um some cleanup to begin uh the debris and and all of that uh right now the plan is to start on one day okay um we'll we'll get back to our normal normal work schedule um we have a list of all the trees down that have been reported and we'll just go through that list we'll put our guys in certain sections and we'll just take the section at a time mm-hmm yeah as you said um 82 trees down around the county my goodness okay uh Spencer i'm glad we connected i appreciate your time and and your your crews that are out there uh taking care of things for us here in Rockingham county thanks a lot yes sir thank you Mike okay we'll talk again later all right have a have a good day thanks he is well okay uh Spencer Odell uh he is Rockingham county maintenance engineer from North Carolina Department of Transportation uh hope you were listening closely there some very important information from Spencer and again uh those crews are out uh taking care of things all around Rockingham county from the storm and if you uh see any high water or uh trees down uh please call 911 and and they'll take care of that get to uh NCDOT on uh on those situations okay and that's our um report this morning from uh North Carolina Department of Transportation and uh the impact on tropical storm Debbie here in Rockingham county [BLANK_AUDIO]