West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) road crews are ready to clean up if overnight rains lead to flooding and slides.
The National Weather Service was predicting one or two inches of rain in the Mountain State on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, into Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, leading to the potential for roads to flood or for fallen trees or mudslides to block the roads.
If that should happen, “Our first priority is to get the roads back open,” said Joe Pack, P.E., WVDOH Chief Engineer of District Operations. Once roads are open to traffic, the WVDOH will determine what repairs, if any, need to be made to keep roads safe.
Minor flooding was reported Thursday afternoon in Kanawha, Boone, Cabell, and Putnam counties in District 1. But District 1 Maintenance Engineer Kathy Rushworth, P.E., said the fairly slow and steady nature of the rainfall was causing few problems so far.
But crews in District 1 and West Virginia’s other nine highway districts were prepared to deal with any road closures that might crop up overnight and into Friday.