Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Severe weather hit Cheyenne County over the weekend. On Saturday, heavy rain and winds led to localized flooding throughout the county. Over the night, the precipitation turned to snow, accumulating 5-7 inches on Sidney streets.
Dana Streff, of Sidney, doesn't let the cold and snow on Mother's Day keep her and her dogs, Daisy and Grace, from getting a run in.
A Nebraska Department of Roads plow clears snow from State Highway 19 between Sidney and Peetz, Colo., on Sunday morning.
A storm forecasted to hit Cheyenne County found its mark over the weekend. After more than three inches of rain fell on Saturday, causing some streets in Sidney and the county to flood, residents were greeted by 5 inches on snow on Sunday morning.
John Hehnke, Sidney public services director and emergency manager, said there was some localized street flooding on Saturday morning.
"Nothing too major," he said. "It was a lot of rain and we had areas of town that were covered in hail – and that tends to plug things up for a little bit."
Streets that had low-water crossings were temporarily closed and Lodgepole Creek was running high through sections of town, he said.
Throughout the day, crews worked to clear storm drains.
"We had to get our inlets cleaned up," he said. "Too much rain too fast overwhelmed the storm drain system."
Power was also out in section of town for a few hours on Saturday after two lines came down.
"We don't know exactly what caused the lines to come down," he said, "whether it was a lightning strike or the high winds or what exactly."
Then on Sunday, plows were out clearing city streets of wet, heavy snow.
"We had a couple of trucks at the ready," Hehnke explained. "They did change the forecast for us overnight, but we did have plows on trucks and were out plowing snow on Sunday morning."
Throughout this week, debris scattered in city parks and flood channel areas will be cleared as the ground begins to dry.
Tom Noel, Cheyenne County superintendent of roads, said the precipitation on Saturday led to closures of a few county roads. County roads 113 and 117 near the Colorado border were closed because of high water in Cow Creek.
While C.R. 113 is now open, Noel said C.R. 117 would likely remain closed through Tuesday. C.R. 125 between county roads 30 and 32 is also closed.
"It's just in a low spot and when we get a whole lot of rain, it all runs to that hole and sits there," he said.
Noel said C.R. 125 in that section would remain closed for a week or two.
The snow and rain softened many dirt and gravel roads throughout Cheyenne County, Noel added.
"They've got to pack back down, especially where the snow set," he said. "They're firming up pretty good today with the wind, but it's going to take us a while to get them all fixed back up."
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