Rain this weekend coupled with a thaw could mean quite a bit of water around the area. All that has to have somewhere to go. But on some streets, especially after a lot of snow, that can be tough. Crews have been busy clearing out a lot of drains.
With accumulations from the last couple storms it was easy for a build up of ice and snow pack in and around basins and culverts. Most of it is cleared out during plowing, but there are areas that need extra work to avoid pooling and potential flooding in area neighborhoods.
Second Avenue in Silvis is a trouble spot. Pools of water building up on the sides of the Street. Friday, street crews brought out the heavy equipment to move ice and snow pack. They cleared the way for when it all turns to liquid and is accompanied by more in the form of rain.
"It ices up and backs up so then we gotta come out and push off the ice and try to get it to run somewhere," said Richard Krantz with the Silvis Street Department.
Krantz says part of the problem is parked cars. Plows have to go around them and can't clear the snow back far enough which creates ice dams. In this case, a concerned neighbor contacted the city about it.
"Just got called about an hour ago. Freed up the little pond she has and we're just chasing it down the road," said Krantz.
Workers also used a shovel to clear around culverts. Often times they run into debris left by homeowners that gets in the way. "People put their leaves in front of a culvert and you gotta get that out of there." Otherwise, additional water from melting and rain could become more of an issue. Flooding onto properties is what crews want to avoid.
"It's places like this with the ditches and culverts that's where we have problems. There's some areas in town that have their driveways tipped back toward their house and we try to stay on top of those, we have inlets there that we watch," said Krantz.
Some city street departments will keep an eye out during plowing, others will send a worker to scout the whole town making sure everything is in working order ahead of a change in the weather.
If you do notice a drainage issue on your street cities say to call the public works so the street crews can come and take care of it.
