Flooding damages Highway 69

MYRTLEWOOD — Three days of rainfall have taken a toll in the southern portion of Marengo County as a small part of Alabama Highway 69 near Myrtlewood has washed away.

A segment of the roadway in the southbound lane slid off Tuesday due to the saturation of the soil, explained Alabama Department of Transportation District Manager Danny Etheridge.

“They had part of a slide come up into the edge of the roadway,” Etheridge said of the damaged stretch of road near mile marker 67. “It’s just that the soil gets real saturated from the water and part of it just slides off. We are in there fixing it but tonight we are just going to have to flag traffic. Tomorrow, we should be able to go in there and make the full repair.”

Etheridge said ALDOT crews made some headway with repairs today but will have to reconstruct the road beginning Wednesday.

“We took all that soil out today but we didn’t have enough time to get the road constructed,” he explained.

ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann told The Watchman via Twitter that rainfall in the southern part of the county over the past three days could be as high as the double digits.

“Radar estimates for that part of the county suggest 8-10 inches since Sunday,”Spann noted.

Forecasts call for rainfall to taper off Wednesday morning, allowing ample opportunity for ALDOT crews to finish road repairs.