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As of 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the assessment of the road damage by the Pike County Road Department was that 82 county roads were closed due to flooding, trees being down or a combination of both due to the heavy rains from Hurricane Sally, said Pike County Commissioner Chad Copeland.

“We are still assessing the road damage but it is widespread so the number of roads affected is fluctuating,” Copeland said. “The roads are being prioritized according to areas where people are stranded or stuck. Where trees are down and making roads impassable, they are being cut as fast as possible.”

Copeland said near Little Oak there is an extremely deep wash and two spots on the dirt road across from Rogers Schoolhouse that are washed out.

“There are a lot of road closures due to water washes and trees being down,” Copeland said. “If there had been a lot of strong wind along with all that rain, and the ground being so soaked, we would really have been in trouble.”

Copeland said he heard reports of 12 inches of rain around Springhill and 13 inches in the Pronto area.

“Right now, we don’t have an assessment on the cost of the road damage, but it will be major, Copeland said.

Copeland expressed appreciation to the Pike County Road Department for being on the job and assessing the damage to make sure emergency traffic could get where it needed to go during the rainstorm.

“We’ve go bunch of dedicated and hardworking guys,” Copeland said. “They are out there, and have been out there, assessing the damage and doing the work that has to be done to get our roads open as soon as possible.”