GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — The work is underway in Golden Valley, where city crews are clearing out storm drains before the rain comes.
"Freezing rain is the worst-case scenario when we're talking about public safety and road conditions,” street and vehicle maintenance superintendent Marshall Beugen said. "That few degrees can make a big difference in how we react.”
The crews are working to clear as many drains as they can before the rain comes this weekend, and then it's a waiting game to see if any of those drains freeze up and need to be cleared out.
In Minneapolis, they've been working prevention for several weeks now, because being a bigger city, they have a lot more work to do.
"We have about 46,000 catch basins in the City of Minneapolis,” Minneapolis surface water and sewers engineer Kevin Danen said.
"We're pretty well on top of it right now. We're where we should be."
And residents can also chip in ahead of this rainstorm.
"If they notice any problems, like standing water, or water that is being dammed up near a drain, call 311. That's our job," said Danen. "We'll go out there and do it."
Because water with no place to go leads to frozen intersections and sidewalks.
"You could see car accidents. All kinds of things,” Beugen said.
And it's too late for this rain and snow event, but many cities, including St. Paul, Minneapolis and St. Louis Park, have an "Adopt-a-Drain" program where you can sign up to maintain a drain in your neighborhood.
And if it gets too frozen over, you can call the city to come clear it out.
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