 Flooding season begins, mind road closures
KCDOT Road Use Investigator Gerry Arnston Says: Hi, I'm Gerry Arnston, I'm with the King County Department of Transportation as their Road Use Investigator. The reason I'm out here today is because of the weather changing season, and we're starting to get a lot of flooded roads. Our road crews are putting out signs stating 'Road Closed'. It's mainly for the safety of the motorist and all that to keep the driver and vehicles out of the waterways. Once these rivers start flowing like they are, cars go through it, move the barricades, go around the signs. And at times, some get stuck in the middle of the water, which we cannot go in and rescue them, we have to basically get Fire Rescue to come out and bring their boats out if needed to try to take care of the rescue portion of it. But one of the hazards of this thing, is the drivers go around not realizing the deepness of the water and the flowing currents. It only takes a few inches of water to get over the surface of the road and with the current itself, some of these smaller cars it could actually push the car right off the roadway. Or the roadway itself could be undermined, washed away. And if you can't see it, you don't know what's under that roadway. So it's really a safety hazard to go around these signs, so we're asking the motorists out there, don't move the signs, don't go around them to avoid any possible hazards or safety problems. There have been instances where drivers have been seem moving the signs, and if we catch them doing that, I know myself and other deputies with King County Sheriff, if we catch people doing that, we will basically stop them, issue them a citation and the citation would be a mandatory court appearance in front of a judge. It's a misdemeanor which could go with a fine up to $1,000 and possibly 90 days in jail, and it could be both. So again we ask the motorists don't drive around the signs, don't move the signs and it's mainly for your own safety. There have been deaths, a few people dying in instances like this [sic], that will get out there, they get stuck in, they try to walk through it, and the current actually washed them away. So again, when you see the road signs, abide by them, don't go through the roads.
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