LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg Water Resources Department personnel have gone from shoveling snow off roads to the task of clearing stormwater drains.
“So we’re targeting the low-lying areas, specifically first in Lynchburg, to shovel out those storm drains to make sure that they’re clear and open,” Jes Gearing, with the Lynchburg Water Resources Department, said.
Piles of snow still paint the Hill City and with rain in the forecast this could lead to some problems.
“The heavy rain comes down and the snow (is) on the ground. Typically if the snow's not there, the rain will be able to go right into the ground and the ground could absorb it. Now, since the snow is there we’re going to see a lot of runoff happen, especially into roads, creeks, streams, things like that,” Jonathan Kegges, 10 News meteorologist, said.
That is why city leaders in Lynchburg want to stay ahead of the threat.
“We’re really trying to get ahead a lot of the flooding issues we’ve been having this year. So it is very specific to this year, and we’ve had a lot of issues, but we want to make sure that we can do everything that’s in our power to make sure we don’t have any flooding going forward,” Gearing said.
“The heaviest rain looks to fall, though, along the east of the Blue Ridge into Southside, parts of Central Virginia. Those are the main areas we are watching with the potential for flooding this weekend,” Kegges said.
“We’ve been out there Wednesday, out there today and we’ll be keeping tabs as the rain comes down,” Gearing said Thursday.
Lynchburg city leaders ask anyone who sees flooding to call the 24/7 phone line at 434-455-4250.