Standing water, clogged drains shut down roads, but not for everyone
This latest weather system has brought nonstop rain and has utility crews working around the clock.
“We got about 150 high-priority work orders reporting surface water, ponding issues overnight. Working through the remaining work orders today, about 25% or 30% left,” said Emergency Management Manager for Seattle Public Utilities, Chad Buechler.
Buechler says they’ve been tracking this storm since last week and tried working ahead by clearing as many drains as possible.
“With it still being early in the winter, there’s still some leaves on the ground so we have a partnership with SDOT to go out and do those leaf routes,” said Buechler.
The city of Bellevue says they’ve been doing the same, but with 20,000 storm drains in the city, they are asking everyone to help out.
“Go ahead and check the storm drain in front of your home or in front of your businesses. If there are leaves in there, water getting clogged in there, go ahead and clean that out,” said Bellevue Police Department spokesperson Seth Tyler.
A problematic area in Bellevue is Southeast 7th Place right off Lake Hills Connector Road. Crews closed the road early Tuesday morning.
“Yeah, this can be a problem. I’ve had experiences in the past with this road, drowning a car,” said Jessie Brashen.
The flooding caused chaos for parents dropping off their kids at International School.
Officials ask that you abide by the road closure signs, but our crew saw some people drive right past them.
