Bowling Green Public Works responds for flooding, prepares for round of snow storms

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Bowling Green Public Works Department has been hard at work mitigating the flood waters that have inundated Bowling Green’s roadways. Now, public works is now getting ready for another round of storms, this time with snow.

Before the weekend storm system passed through, workers with the public works department spent the time before the storm surveying who could be at the most risk and what areas of the city are most at risk for flooding. Now that the rain has stopped, BGPW is going around taking data and photos of the high water marks left by the floods.

However, BGPW is now getting ready for the snow to fall. Snow can pose its own risks and exasperate the problems the heavy rains have already caused. The snow melt is the main concern for BGPW. Melting snow can add yet more water to already flooded roadways.

Andy Souza, the director for Bowling Green Public Works, says right now, they are focused on salting the roads and creating safe streets for drivers.

“Really, it comes down to the snow melt. So how fast it melts and where if we obviously we get a lot of snow and it melts all at once, that’s going to create some issues. The ground is already saturated. Right now. Mother Nature is taking as much as she can take. So we’re watching very closely to see. So right now, we’re in the preparation stage. We’re salting roads. We’re getting everything ready. Hopefully, folks will drive slowly, but we’ll just have to see,” Souza said.

Souza also says they are not expecting the snow melt to impact the already overburdened water table, but they are prepared to close off more roadways if the snow melt creates more problems. For now, Bowling Green Public Works says to exercise caution when driving, never drive into standing water and beware of ice as temperatures continue to plummet.