LAFAYETTE COUNTY, Miss. — Road crews in Lafayette County continue to recover after heavy rainfall caused damage on the roadways. In the middle of County Road 317, the culvert was washed away leaving a huge hole behind.
WREG spoke with Kevin O’Conner, a man who lives nearby and was on the scene just moments before the road washed away.
“Talk about turn around, don’t drown. It could’ve gone out under anybody going across it,” he said.
He was heading to work Wednesday morning when he noticed standing water over what used to be a road on this portion of County Road 317.
“I didn’t have my boots on but I walked it anyways. I got my shoes wet to see how deep it was and how fast it was flowing. We decided to go around instead of going over it,” he said.
And good thing he did. Within an hour, the entire culvert was washed away by the floods caused by the heavy rainfall.
“I guess it adds another 10 minutes to my drive going around the block. It’s a pretty big block. It’s in the country,” he said.
If you look closely, you could even see the culvert about a yard away sitting in the water.
Lafayette County Road Manager Joe Bynum said they’ve already started on the rebuilding process and plan to replace the culvert with a 72 inch by 50 foot long galvanized 10-gauge pipe.
He said there were three other culverts in the county that were damaged during Wednesday’s heavy rainfall. Those are along County roads 160, 351, and 470. Those roads haven’t been completely washed away but they’re closed for the public’s safety until they can get fully repaired.
“Some of these places, the road is still there, but it’s a possibility of it sinking, if you drive across it,” he explained.
The county road manager says they expect to have repairs complete by the end of the month.
