Road crews try to keep up with continuing rainfall
Ozark County Commissioners assure residents that road and bridge crews are doing everything they can to fix roadways this year. The crews have battled round after round of heavy rains and floods that continue to destroy county roads.
“We’re fixing roads from the [previous] floods, and now there’s more to fix,” Western District Commissioner Layne Nance said while talking about Sunday afternoon’s downpour during the regular Ozark County Commissioners meeting Monday morning.
The unusual amount of rainfall in Ozark County over the past eight months has created a big problem with local county roads. In late June, residents saw two weeks of very little rain, and it seemed as if Ozark County’s road and bridge crews were finally catching a break and would be able to do more than just patch up severely damaged roads. Then Sunday afternoon’s storm dumped between four and five inches of rain on much of Ozark County in just a matter of a couple hours - and the work that was completed during the dry spell was washed away.
“I really thought we were in the summer pattern,” Nance said. “And then we had this weekend’s storms.”
“We’ve not been two weeks without rain [since November],” said Eastern District Commissioner Jim Britt. “We were finally getting caught up on the roads and actually [able] to spend some time fixing them the last couple weeks. Road crews can fix one to three miles of county road in a day when they’re fixing them good. So, it’s slow going, and we’ve been so far behind. We were heading in the right direction before this last storm hit. Now, we’re right back to fixing and patching the washouts.”
Nance said that Squires area received four inches of rain last Friday in a small area. He had a grader operator work Friday and Saturday to fix the damage. Then, Sunday’s storm hit that part of the county - dumping another deluge on the Wasola, Squires and Noble areas. The rain came hard and fast, and caused significant damage to the repaired roads.
“The Wasola, Noble area got another 4.5 to 5 inches Sunday, within about two and a half hours,” Nance said.
In contrast to Nance’s district, Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton said the area near Dora got very little rain Sunday afternoon.
Nance said crews are out surveying road damage again, trying to formulate a plan for repairs. “As far as roads, I have no idea,” said Nance. “It’s the same old stuff. There’s a lot of low water crossings that are not passable yet. My hope is they have them decently passable by the Thursday.”
The commissioners ask for the public’s continued patience while the crews do their best to make roads passable until they are able to properly fix the severely damage roads. “I know patience is getting thin,” said Britt. “But patience is the main thing.”
“Every one of my guys...they’re just wore out,” said Nance. “I’m wore out. I was putting in a culvert at 11 [p.m. Sunday] night...because a lady couldn’t get home. Our guys have worked every weekend for three weekends in a row...When it’s this devastating, every one of them steps up, but they’re tired.”
In other news, Melanie Burnett and Jenny Collins from the South Central Ozarks Council of Governments (SCOCOG) were present at the meeting offering the commissioners help with disaster paperwork because of the shear number of disasters Ozark County has endured and the relief the county qualifies for through federal and state help. Currently, Ozark County has four open disasters declarations waiting on FEMA and SEMA funds - two floods in November 2024, floods and the tornado in March of this year and the floods on Memorial weekend.
The Ozark County Commissioners meet weekly at 9 a.m. Tuesdays in their conference room, located in the upper level of the Ozark County Courthouse in Gainesville. The meetings are open to the public, and anyone is invited to attend. To reach the commissioners, call 417-679-4096 or email ozarkcountycommission@outlook.com