UPDATE: Lincoln, county officials issue warnings over floods

UPDATE:

With all the rain in the Lincoln area over Memorial Day weekend, water levels have been rising in the city and rural Lancaster County.

The big story is how much flooding they’re seeing in the county.

“At this time, Salt Creek is in flood stage at Roca and then as well as at Greenwood,” Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman said.  “In addition to that, we also have Steven’s Creek coming in very high.”

Dingman said they started seeing water levels rise around 4 a.m. Tuesday.

She said the ground is so saturated right now that the soil is more of a liquid in some areas, which is causing pipe culverts to fail.  Some county roads are starting to erode in those spots.

“Given the pipe failures we’re having, there may be water over the road and there might not be road under that water anymore,” Dingman said.  “That remains our primary concern.  If there’s water over the road, even if you’ve driven through it for your lifetime, please don’t do it today.”

She said there are also concerns over erosion around a lot of bridges, but water levels are too high for them to fully inspect them.

Five roads out in the county are closed.  That includes Saltillo Road between 27th St. and Highway 77.

Gene Theer said his sod farm south of Lincoln is under three or four feet of water right now.

“It’s hard to think ahead 48 hours and think ‘hey, everything’s going to be okay,’ but you got to look back and realize ‘hey, it’s happened before and it’ll clear out and it’ll be fine,'” Theer said.

He said if we don’t get much rain overnight, he’ll be in good shape.

Inside Lincoln, Salt Creek’s levels are high, while Holmes Lake has swelled up.

City officials said they’re monitoring conditions around town and ready to respond.

The National Weather Service said at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Salt Creek was flowing at nearly 15 feet.  They said water levels may rise to around 18 feet overnight.  Flood stage is 20.5 feet.

If you’re looking for updates on water levels, visit: 
https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/glance.php?wfo=oax&gage=lusn1&riverid=204778 

For street closings, go to:
https://lincoln.ne.gov/city/ltu/projects/street–closures/map.htm

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With all the rain in the Lincoln area over the Memorial Day weekend, water levels have been rising in town and out in the county.

Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman said they started seeing water levels rise around 4 a.m. Tuesday.

She said the ground is so saturated right now that the soil is more of a liquid in some areas, which is causing pipe culverts to fail and some county roads are starting to erode around those spots.

“Given the pipe failures we’re having, there may be water over the road and there might not be road under that water anymore,” Dingman said.  “And that remains our primary concern. If there’s water over the road, even if you’ve driven through it for your lifetime, please don’t do it today.”

Dingman said there are also concerns over erosion around a lot of bridges, but water levels are too high for them to fully inspect them.

She said five roads out in the county are closed.  That includes Saltillo Road between 27th St. and Highway 77.

Salt Creek’s levels are also high.

City officials said they’re monitoring conditions around Lincoln and ready to respond.