Playground equipment is engulfed in flowing water from Mill Creek near Turner Monday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Salem on Sunday saw the most rainfall it’s had since January as several Marion County roads are closed due to high water.
The city had 1.76 inches of rain Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Five of the seven areas of Salem listed on OneRain have had a five-to-ten-year event in the past 48 hours, between 3.6 and 4.1 inches. The agency is forecasting showers the rest of the week as well through Dec. 26.
Salem has recorded more than an inch of rain on six different days in 2021, archived data from the weather service showed.
As of about noon Monday, four roads are closed indefinitely due to high water in Marion County, according to its website:
-Southeast Marion Road to Mill Creek Road
-Northeast 75th Avenue from Roanoke Street to Rambler Drive (high water gates closed)
-South Wintel Road from Jorgenson Road to Marlatt Road
-Northeast Hazelgreen Road from Torvend Road to 10985 Hazelgreen Road (high water gates closed)
No city roads are closed due to high water, city spokeswoman Courtney Knox-Busch said in an email.
She said Salem has four stream locations just below flood stage:
-Battle Creek at Southeast Commercial Street
– East Fork of Pringle Creek at Southeast Trelstad Road
-Mill Creek at 3rd Street in Turner
-Glenn Creek at Northwest Hidden Valley Road
“We are hoping that the rain begins to slow down and we will just escape having any creeks go above flood stage,” Mark Becktel, Salem’s public works operations director, said in an email. “We are still looking at a decent amount of rain this week with another 1.00 to 1.5 inches of rain between today and Thursday.”
The chance of rain is 90% Monday afternoon and 80% at night, 60% Tuesday and 80% that night, 100% Wednesday and 90% Thursday.
Busch said Salem residents are encouraged to track possible local flooding at https://hww.onerain.com/, and that sand bag filling stations are open at several locations.
After having 1.31 inches Jan. 2 and 1.93 inches Jan. 12 – the most this year – Salem saw an eight-month stretch without an inch or more of rain. Then came 1.13 inches on Sept. 18, 1.05 inches on Nov. 11 and 1.44 inches on Dec. 11.
A pickup drives through water from Mill Creek flowing over Marion Rd. SE near Turner Monday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A horse, dressed for the weather, stands in water overflowing into a pasture near Turner Monday. The horse was in no danger from shallow water (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A truck sends water flying while driving through water overflowing the road’s surface by Mill Creek. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A vehicle sends water spraying through the air as it passes through water from Mill Creek flowing over Marion Rd.SE Monday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
This post was updated with additional information from the city of Salem.
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
