Crews from the Texas Department of Transportation, as well as the public works departments from several North Texas cities, have been busy preparing to mitigate any danger from flash flooding that is predicted to develop once heavy rain from Tropical Storm Bill starts to fall across the region.
In Fort Worth, the Storm Water Department's field operations crews spent Tuesday evening loading up trucks with materials necessary to shut down a flooded street – including barricades, plastic barrels and sand bags. The department is responsible for keeping 35,000 storm drain inlets located along curbs clear from debris which can clog them and cause flash flooding.
"Too often people ignore us," said storm water superintendent Juan Cadena, about drivers who routinely ignore their warnings and drive past barricades. "They'll drive around our employees [who are] waving them down. People always seem to think that the water is okay. It's not."
In Dallas, the Public Works Department has brought in 15 temporary pumps to suck water out of the still-flooded Eagle Ford Sump area – a low-lying spot along Singleton Boulevard near Loop 12 on the city's west side which flooded on May 20, causing water to build up beneath Interstate 30 and shut Loop 12 down for days – and bring it over the levies and into the Trinity River, which has receded back below flood stage in recent days.
TxDOT road crews have been busy removing debris along the highways in North Texas which could block storm drains and increase the risk for flooding over the roadway, according to Michelle Releford, TxDOT Dallas District Public Information Officer.
Despite that effort, if upwards of six to eight inches of rain falls over the next 24 hours, highway flooding in some spots will be inevitable, according to Releford.
TxDOT will have spotters driving the roads, focusing on known trouble spots, once the rain does start to fall, Releford said.
