Yankton County township officials, as well as Yankton County Highway officials met Monday afternoon to discuss road conditions. At this time, all officials agreed to allow rural mail carriers back on gravel roads. This will be up to the carriers discretion based on the road conditions they see. At this time township and county officials ask that garbage services, heavy equipment, and expedited package carriers such as FedEx or UPS, be held off for now due to many areas still not ready for heavy traffic. Only local rural United States Postal Service carriers will be allowed at this time.
The Yankton School system will continue picking up kids on hard surface roads only. They will continue this through the end of the school year which is currently scheduled to end May 16th, 2019.
Yankton County is currently still in a burn ban. This ban is necessary due to the conditions of rural roads and the heavy vehicles needed to fight fires. Yankton County Emergency services will respond to all emergency calls in the county. Everyone needs to remember that during this time, the response times may be slower due to weather and road conditions. As an example, Yankton County ambulances are all 4-wheel drive vehicles; but they are heavy vehicles that may have trouble moving through thick mud. Arrangements are in place with Yankton county and State departments that have 6×6 UTV (Ranger type vehicles) and tracked vehicles that can be used to move patient or personnel during ambulance calls. If necessary, we will carry the patient to a vehicle that can move the patient to the ambulance or call for helicopter scene flight. Yankton county fire agencies have similar arrangements to aid with their responses.
District III is still updating the road closure map. It will continue to be available for reference for the time being. http://ims.districtiii.org/closedroads/
The Map: Red roads signify closed roads, Orange roads signify gravel roads in which no travel is advised, and Green roads will be open roads. Use this to help you pick the safest route to your destination.