Baltimore’s wettest year on record has a new victim: the road over Loch Raven Reservoir.
According to Baltimore’s Department of Public Works, which is responsible for Loch Raven Reservoir, Loch Raven Drive is closed over the reservoir because the soil around it has eroded after a year of constant rainfall.
“With all the rain we’ve had over the past year there’s been a gradual erosion of a particular spot [along] the roadway,” said department spokesman Kurt Kocher.
For the year, precipitation at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the region’s point of record, totaled 71.82 inches, the highest rainfall since records began in 1871.
The damage happened as unpaved areas around and under the road started washing away, creating damage on the road’s surface, Kocher said, adding that he expects the same thing is happening to roads across the mid-Atlantic.
The road will be closed between Providence Road and Morgan Mill Road for “a couple of weeks,” Kocher said. A more specific timeline, dependent on the weather, is not available, Kocher said.
Baltimore Sun reporter Scott Dance contributed to this story.