As the murky, brown water of Storms Creek licked just inches from the North Second Street bridge in Ironton, city officials decided they couldn't wait any longer.

Ironton Floodwall and Street Superintendent Mike Pemberton said they had delayed putting up the floodgate at Second Street and Hicks Alley as long as possible but decided Saturday evening that they had to batten down the hatches as the Ohio River continued to swell from recent rain.

"This is precautionary," Pemberton said. "If something catastrophic would happen upriver that we don't have any control over and we don't have the gates up, we would be in trouble."

As always, the closure causes some traffic problems for motorists. All traffic into and out of North Ironton is routed across the railroad crossing where McPherson Street connects with U.S. 52.

U.S. 52 has been reduced to one lane at the McPherson Street exit on U.S. 52 between state routes 650 and 93, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The floodgate will stay up until Monday afternoon. Pemberton said he did not anticipate having to close any other gates.

The Second Street floodgate is always the first of the city's 18 gates that are closed when the river reaches dangerously high levels. The decision to close the gates is based on forecasts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on the river's water marks.

As soon as the river reaches 48 to 50 feet, the city prepares to close the Second Street gate. It was at 49 feet Saturday afternoon and rising.

"All three of my forecasts said we would have 51.8 feet by Sunday," Pemberton said. "Fifty-two feet will put water up against the gate."

Closing a flood gate is a six- to eight-hour process. Street department employees prepare the plates. I-beams are set with a crane. Once the steel and timber are set on the beams, the gate is covered with tar paper and sealed with sandbags at the bottom.

One side effect of the flood gate closure is that the Ironton Fire Department must keep a fire truck manned by four firefighters in the north end of town, just in case a fire would break out.

In addition, State Route 650 is closed at its junction with U.S. Route 52 at Hanging Rock.

Although they remain open and are passable, state routes 141 at Arabia, 217 at Linnville and 243 at Greasy Ridge are on watch status because high water, according to ODOT.

Closure of these routes may be necessary as backwater continues to rise. motorists are advised to exercise additional caution.