An official with the South Dakota Department of Transportation says plans are in place to deal with rising waters in the southeast region.
Sioux Falls Area Engineer Travis Dressen says the department is working with counties, cities, and townships to ensure safety and keep traffic on dry roads.
"A lot of that coordination really comes down to where will traffic be detoured as roads close?'. Many times, some of the first roads to be inundated are some of the township roads so we expect to see more of that traffic on our state highways. As we start closing highways, we know traffic will be detoured."
Dressen says crews are documenting the cost of flooding to the state's infrastructure.
Governor Kristi Noem signed a emergency declaration last week and has said her administration will work with state and local officials to itemize the impacts of this month's severe weather and flooding. Noem's administration said in a statement last week that they may seek a Presidential Disaster Declaration depending on the extent of damage.
Dressen says record-keeping is in place to determine the price tag for the flooding response.
"We do rely on a number of contractors to help us out in these situations. We, of course, have our own forces out there. We code all of our time, so we're able to track our equipment and labor hours. Once flood waters subside, we're able to go out and visually assess any damage that we have - we are able to put together estimates and track those costs. Once those are all known, we report those to our operations support staff in Pierre."
Dressen says flooding last Wednesday through Friday led to costs incurred in the five-county area he supervises.
"We did have a number of road closures so we did have some expenses into the traffic control and the efforts needed to do that. We also had a number of culverts that were still plugged with snow. So, we had contracting staff and DOT staff working to unplug those culverts to get the water moving. We did have a few locations with some washed out driveways, a little bit of erosion at pipes - but nothing significant up to this point - so we've been very fortunate in that respect."
Transportation and public safety officials want people not to drive through flooded roadways and respect barricades put in place by authorities. Motorists can also visit safetravelusa.com or dial 5-1-1 for more information on road closures and conditions.