FPS staff report
March 9, 2010

Pipe Creek near Hibbits had already to begun to flow out of its banks Tuesday morning. Projections of warm temperatures and rainfall have led Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Cottis to issue a warning to residents about flooding in the upcoming days.

What usually follows a large accumulation snow?

The meltdown.

Carroll County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Cottis is predicting the slow meltdown that has been underway for the past several days is going to accelerate over the next few days and cause creeks to come out of their banks. He issued a warning to residents in the areas of Sandy Creek, Conotton Creek and Yellow Creek areas to be especially cautious.

“The National Weather Service is advising of the potential for almost all streams to come out of their banks because of the temperatures and rainfall expected over the next few days,” Cottis said Tuesday morning.

He noted temperatures are to warm during the day and will not drop back to the freezing point overnight, which causes the meltdown to accelerate.

“The last few days we have had the ideal conditions to melt the snow slowly,” he said. “The temperatures warmed during the day which accelerated the melt, and then dropped back to freezing at night which slowed it down. That is not going to be the case the next few days.”

He said the soil is saturated with water, so water from the meltdown will not be absorbed, but will runoff, causing streams to fill quickly.

“Both Atwood and Leesville lakes are low, so they can take the additional water, but our streams are basically on flat ground so the water does not run  fast enough to prevent it from coming out of the banks.

He said early Tuesday morning the water in Pipe Run near Hibbitts was already over its banks and he expected it to reach the roadway sometime in the late afternoon hours.

“The National Weather Service is predicting we could receive some very heavy rainfall Thursday and Friday, which will make the situation worse,” he said.

Weather models show much of the county still has a snow compaction equal to two inches of liquid, according to the director. “Since I’ve been around, every time this county has experienced two to three inches of rain, the creeks have come out of their banks,” he stated. 

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