ST. CLOUD -- Street crews in St. Cloud battled Mother Nature last week to keep roads from flooding and traffic moving as rain and warm temperatures sent water and melting snow cascading everywhere.

Street Maintenance Supervisor Tom Zabinski says it was a perfect storm of trouble because many storm drains were either frozen or snow-covered...preventing water from entering the drainage system. Now that the rain has stopped and the melting has slowed, Zabinski says potholes are their only focus.

This season could be tougher than most.  We're seeing some deeper potholes in some roads this year.  We have a few roads that cause annual issues where we know we have some challenges, but this year they seem deeper than normal.

Zabinski says it can be frustrating when they patch a pothole only to learn it popped out again a day or two later. He says they are getting to them as fast as they can but it appears to be a banner year for potholes.

The city needs to wait for the frost to come out of the ground before switching over to a more durable hot mix. Zabinski says with water in most of the potholes now, a temporary cold patch is all they can do.

As we move along here, hopefully in the next few weeks, the frost will start coming out.  When the road's actually dry a little more then it seems like our success is a lot better.

If you'd like to report a pothole to the city of St. Cloud, you can call 650-2949, download the city's app for your smartphone, or tablet or report potholes on the city of St. Cloud's website.

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