Rain closes nearly three dozen roads

Breakout box:
The following roads have been closed in the Dothan and Houston County:
Dothan: Lane closures are in effect on Horace Shepherd Drive and Curry Street, but both roads are passable for local traffic.
Houston County: Hollis Dairy Road, Lamp Brothers Road, Cureton Road, Pilgrim Church Road, Indigo Pond Road, Lanier Road, Gus Hughes Road, Pleasant Grove Road, Lonnie Road, Springhill Road, Eddins Road, B.J. Mixon Road, Pate Road, East Cook Road, Crawford Road, Doyle Holland Road, McArthur Road, Country Road 203, and W.G. Bond Road.

As rising flood waters swept across Daniel Circle Tuesday afternoon, traffic was sparse.

Many of the children in extended day care at Heard Elementary School had been picked up early by anxious parents, eager to get home themselves before more rain fell.

It was as local officials had hoped. The Dothan Police Department and the Houston County Commission began mid-afternoon asking all residents to stay off the roads during this time of heavy rain, if at all possible.

“Everyone is advised to stay off all county roads, as we have already gotten reports of water over roads,” County Commission Chairman Mark Culver said. “Until we can verify which roads are actually not passable, we are asking everyone to stay off roads. We have unconfirmed reports of water over Holland Road, Sanitary Dairy Road, and others.

The potential rainfall of four to six inches Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, comes just a few days after a weekend storm dumped more than 11 inches of rain on the Wiregrass. The ground was still saturated when rain began Tuesday morning.

Barricades are up on more than a dozen city streets and about 20 county roads, closed as of 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Local authorities have had a problem, however, of people going around the barricades, which is against the law.

“We put up the barricades to protect the people’s safety and we cannot do our job to provide public safety if the public refuses to cooperate,” Culver said.
Alabama Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Cook said about a dozen tickets were written over the weekend to drivers in the Rehobeth area. The infraction – driving around a barricade – carries a fine to be set by the local jurisdiction.

“It has been a big problem,” Cook said. “Even if a road is not washed out, if a barricade is up, it is there for a reason. Most of the people we ticketed were just out riding around looking.”

Road closures are scattered throughout the county, with the bulk being on the southern end of the county and in the county panhandle toward Wicksburg, where four roads have been closed.

Residents are requested not to drive through standing water due to unknown hazards. Parents are encouraged not to allow their children to play in areas of standing water, also due to potential hazards.

The county and city have re-opened Fortner Street, Quail Drive, Pine Acres in the Wicksburg area, Brookside Drive, Pleasant Valley Drive, Mimosa Drive, Burdeshaw Street, and Dunn Road.

Work was ongoing Tuesday on Flowers Chapel Road and County Road 203.

The Fort Rucker Department of Public Works Department closed Christian Road, located between Johnson and Traffic Minder Roads, due to a structurally unsafe bridge.

The road is closed indefinitely, so traffic using Faulkner Gate and Lowe Field from Christian or Whitaker Roads will be detoured to Artillery, Farrell, Lowe Field and Traffic Minder Roads. No date for reopening has been established.