Road Closed

A week after the Cullman County Commission declared a weather-related state of emergency in the wake of mounting road damage from a wet winter, Gov. Kay Ivey announced a state of emergency effective Feb. 18 for all 67 Alabama counties.

The declaration, said the governor’s office in a press release, is an initial step “to aid in Alabama’s recovery efforts following the recent flooding.”

“The significant amount of rain that has fallen across Alabama over the last few weeks has caused flooding in several portions of the state. We assured our citizens that we would be prepared to help however needed, which is why I have decided to issue a state of emergency,” Ivey said in the statement. “This will allow a continued smooth recovery for our state, and I am confident it will aid the efforts already happening on the local level.”

On a Tuesday afternoon when the rain was still coming down, local Emergency Management Agency director Phyllis Little said the declaration simply helps expedite the process, should Alabama apply for emergency federal assistance to address flood-related infrastructural damage. Last week, the ongoing rainfall and flooding wreaked perhaps its most catastrophic damage this year, when a portion of U.S. Highway 231 in Morgan County was indefinitely closed across all lanes of traffic after the roadway developed cracks and began to displace.

“It opens the door a little bit to get the process started, and dependent on the damage assessments statewide, the governor would have to make a request at the federal level for assistance,” said Little. “By declaring an emergency at the county level last week, we were able to get a little bit ahead and start documenting everything in terms of local road and bridge damage, especially with the county road department. Essentially, at the state level, this is doing the same thing.”

By declaring a State of Emergency, Ivey is directing appropriate state agencies to exercise their statutory authority to assist communities and entities affected by recent and ongoing flooding, the governor’s office said in press release. Among offering assistance, the state of emergency allows local education authorities to appeal to the state superintendent of education for relief in fulfilling the local school calendar with respect to student days or employee days (or both) with no loss of income to employees.

Little said that Tuesday’s rainfall had so far created nothing more than a lot of preventive work for county road crews, who spent much of the day making sure that drainage culverts and ditches remained uncongested and debris-free. After a reprieve from the rainfall today, more precipitation is expected to arrive on Thursday.