Pennington County highway crews expected to have Rochford Road ready for normal traffic Thursday, but work on the South Rochford Road could take another two weeks to complete.

The roads sustained damages totaling more than $50,000 when Rapid Creek bulged out of its banks after a downpour on Sunday, July 6, according to highway superintendent Heine Junge.

Repairing damages caused by floodwaters and excessive runoff could cost Pennington County an unexpected $350,000 this year, Junge said.

County roads and bridges were hit the hardest when a series of storms swept across the area between June 2 and June 12.

As devastating as the June storms were to county infrastructure, the widespread damage was just under the $280,000 needed for the county to qualify for federal disaster assistance, according to Anthony Carbajal, the county's emergency management director.

On Wednesday, 27 South Dakota counties were granted a presidential disaster declaration. The disaster declaration qualifies the counties for federal funding to cover up to 75 percent of eligible repairs to public infrastructure. The state will cover an additional 15 percent of repair costs, and counties will pick up the tab for the remaining 10 percent of their costs.

Although the county did not qualify in the most recent round, Junge is counting every man-hour, all of the fuel expenses and materials used to restore county roads. If costs exceed $280,000, the county can submit an application for assistance, Carbajal said.

If the timing for the disaster assistance was backed up one week, Junge said, the county could have qualified.

Runoff washed out a culvert and eroded several roads in the Hermosa area the last week in May.

Meanwhile, the state is still waiting for a federal declaration that would help people with personal losses.

Carbajal does not expect Pennington County residents to qualify for that help, either, because no homes damaged by floodwaters were rendered uninhabitable.

"There was a lot of basement damage, but it wasn't catastrophic damage," he said.

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com