BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK)– As the temperatures warm up and rain begins later this week, street flooding could be a concern.
Cathy Duqaine was hard at work Monday morning shoveling snow off of her Allouez driveway, and a storm drain near her house.
“We make sure if the snow is as high as it is right now we make sure that there’s no snow going around that, so we shovel it or snow blow it, and make sure the water is seeping out accurately and correctly,” says Duqaine.
Over in Green Bay, with snow totals reaching about a foot in less than a week, many of the city’s storm drains are covered.
“Homeowners can, if they wish they are not required to, clear out their own stormwater inlets, it’s for their own benefit and their neighbors,” says The Green Bay Public Works Department Operations Director, Chris Pirlot.
They can do that by shoveling snow off of them.
Pirlot, says the department focuses on clearing the roads the day after a snowstorm, then the following day it focuses on the inlets.
“Systematically we will go through the city and start taking the buckets on the tractors and breaking the snow and ice away from the storm water inlets because by the end of the week…things are going to melt,” says Pirlot.
Duquaine says her neighbors also do a good job with their drains.
“I think when I look around most of the neighbors are very aware of where their inlets are, and they make sure the snow is not surrounding it or packing it down,” says Duquaine.
If your inlet becomes frozen or clogged, the Public Works Department can help.
“We have steaming devices that will go and stick them down there and it will melt the snow and ice then all the sudden, whoosh the water starts flowing away,” says Pirlot.
Pirlot wants everyone to remember, water on the street can be dangerous.
“Water can disguise hazards,” says Pirlot.
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