Wednesday Road Work Will Impact Yakima Transit
DRIVER ALERT!
Do you ride Yakima Transit? Your ride on the bus could be impacted by work city crews will start on Wednesday and be completed on Friday.
Yakima city crews will be busy with water line work starting Wednesday, February 24 that will close a portion of 6th Avenue between River Road and Madison Avenue. The work is expected to be completed on Friday, February 26. Work on the project will happen between 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day. A press release from the city says because of the heavy traffic volume in the area where the work is happening, drivers can expect delays. If the route is in your commute you may want to take an alternate way to work or wherever you are going this week.
Health Officials Sound Alarm About Fentanyl Deaths
Yakima Health officials are sounding the alarm about drug overdoses in Yakima County as numbers are on the rise. The Yakima County Coroners office says 14 people have died of overdoses and a majority of the deaths are related to the drug fentanyl. They say increases in hospital visits because of overdoses in the valley have been reported over the last two months. The officials say the information from area hospitals show a majority of the overdoses have been the result of Blue Percocet 30 , oxycodone and fentanyl.
According to the Washington State Department of Health says overdose deaths increased last year by 38% in the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019. The department says 835 overdose deaths in the first six months of 2020 compared to 607 deaths in the first half of 2019.
Yakima Police Investigate Two Gang Shootings
Two gang related shootings kept Yakima Police busy on Friday. Both shootings were reported after two teens were found at a local hospital. The first shooting was reported at about 1:45 p.m. Friday in the 500 block of West Nob Hill Blvd. The 16-year-old victim told police he was shot in the leg after someone yelled at him as he was entering his vehicle while parked on Nob Hill Blvd. He drove himself to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released.
Later last Friday at about 3:00 p.m. a 17-year-old local gang member was found at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to his torso. A news release from the Yakima Police Department says he was treated in Yakima but then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment where he s expected to make a full recovery. He was taken to the Yakima hospital in a private vehicle but the driver took off before he could be identified.
Flooding Concerns Minimal in Yakima
Volunteer teams with the Yakima Office of Emergency Management are working every night this week watching area waters for any signs of flooding. Horace Ward Senior Emergency Planner says the 4 teams started work over the weekend as temperatures were on the rise with lots of melting snow. However Ward says the concern about flooding throughout the county this week is minimal. In fact he says many of the creek beds around the valley are still muddy or dry and of no concern. Much of the snow around the area has melted but there s still a potential for a rise in water the reason the teams are monitoring the streams and creeks this week especially in areas like Cottonwood and Wide Hollow areas where the valley traditionally sees minor flooding.