SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) – Crews in the city of Salem spent Saturday clearing the last street from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

Officials said the low-water bridge on Mill Ln. was hit the hardest by an “unbelievable” amount of debris.

A flash flood warning was issued Friday morning. As the water rushed through, it destroyed trees and power lines and left debris throughout the city.

“We had about six to seven to eight different locations around the city that had severe flooding,” said Jeff Ceaser, assistant director of streets and general maintenance for the city of Salem.

Ceaser said crews worked tirelessly throughout the day to contain the storm.

“The river rose very, very quickly,” Ceaser said. “I would say within about two to three hours there was flooding along the Greenway and then other streets in the city started to become impassable.”

Their hard work paid off as all but one of the roads were open Saturday morning.

Mill Ln was the last to open. Ceaser said the flooding was bigger than he had ever seen.

“This is new for the amount of debris. It does happen from time to time, but the amount of debris, logs, sticks, trash… I haven’t seen that here in a long time,” he said.

After being cleared for nearly nine hours, the road reopened on Saturday afternoon. But Ceaser said the busy days aren’t quite over yet.

“I would hope the worst is over,” Ceaser said. “I would hope there will be some rain as the storm progresses, perhaps Sunday into Monday. The ground is saturated. It’s not going to absorb much more moisture and so it won’t be much before there’s more flooding.”

Ceaser expects some debris to remain over the next few weeks but asks the public to be patient as crews work to ensure the safety of residents.

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