City officials urge residents to keep storm drains clean

LEXINGTON, Tenn. — “The city of Lexington experienced a lot of rain fall over the past year, year and a half and during that time we had a lot of flooding in the city limits,” Robbie McCready said.

McCready is the director of Public Works in Lexington, and he says that road flooding is largely due to clogged storm drains.

“We have over 100 miles of city streets with numerous storm drains within each one,” McCready said.

City officials say residents should be mindful of those drains when mowing and raking their yards, especially during the fall, to ensure debris like leaves and sticks don’t get on the road.

“We encourage residents with a storm drain near their home to adopt it as part of their yard,” McCready said.

McCready adds that flooded streets can actually be extremely dangerous, and residents should take them seriously.

“You get a rain event and that water goes through the culvert and undermines the dirt, and essentially can sometimes carry the culvert out or create cavities inside the street,” explained McCready.

Officials say drivers should always prioritize safety, and if a road has flood waters ‘turn around don’t drown.’

“Just because you see the roadway, you drove over it a million times, you know that it’s a common flooded area… doesn’t mean that there’s actually a road there,” McCready said.

McCready says the city of Lexington offers a leaf collection program that runs from the first of November through the end of March.

When the leaf collection program is not available residents can bag up yard debris and Lexington’s Public Works will come by and pick it up once a week.