Before and (Day) After photos of Beaver Lake Drive in North Habersham County. (Photos submitted by HCES and Kaylia Justice)
Snow may be heading our way but at least flood conditions are improving. More than five inches of rain fell across the region Wednesday and Thursday, causing headaches, damage, and some scary moments.
Local rivers crested after midnight. Since then, flooding has subsided.
Waiting to go home
Residents in one neighborhood near Hollywood are waiting to return to their homes after floodwaters blocked them from getting there Thursday.
About 16 houses were cut off from reach when Beaver Lake flooded. Several families in the neighborhood were unable to leave their homes. Kaylia Justice says her family couldn’t get home. She and her husband and their three sons, ages 6, 2, and 11 months, spent the night in a hotel.
“It always floods when it rains here,” Justice says.
One of two drivers rescued from flooded vehicles in Habersham Thursday was heading into the subdivision to check on someone when he got trapped in rushing water. He ended up standing on the roof of his pickup, waiting for someone to help him.
Justice checked on the road this afternoon. There’s still standing water, and she says it’s impassable. Although they’re eager to get home, her family of four will spend another night away from home.
Trees, sinkholes, and washouts
Two people in Clarkesville won’t be going home anytime soon. Public safety officials say their mobile home was left uninhabitable Friday morning when a tree fell on top of it.
Forecasters urge people to stay alert to the threat of falling trees. Windy conditions and wet soil could cause more trees to fall. Habersham, Hart, Elbert, Franklin, Rabun, and Stephens counties are under a wind advisory until 6 p.m. Friday (Feb. 7).
Most of the roads that were shut down by flooding across Northeast Georgia have reopened, but not all. Gilstrap Road in Alto and Sandy Flatts Road in White County near the Lumpkin County Line are closed until further notice for repairs.
Other roads in Habersham are “washed but passable,” says Sharon Roach with the Habersham County Road Department. She says crews “worked all night cutting trees” and clearing debris from the roadways. More trees fell this morning, and they removed those, as well.
Most of the damage in Habersham occurred on the south end of the county. “We’ve had more trees and more washouts there,” says Roach.
Falling trees and flooding aren’t the only problems Northeast Georgians faced. Lightning struck several homes in White County. Fire in the kitchen of a home on Eagle Ridge Trail smoldered all day Thursday until the homeowners returned and discovered it. The fire was quickly extinguished, according to White County Public Safety Director David Murphy. He told WRWH News it was a miracle the house didn’t burn down.
And there was another close call in Cleveland where a sinkhole came within inches of a local fitness center. The crater opened up Thursday outside Anytime Fitness on US Hwy. 129 S. Murphy says it damaged the outside of the building and utilities.
Public works crews and Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs) in the storm-ravaged counties are still assessing the damage. Once their assessments are complete, they’ll submit them to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency as part of a statewide evaluation.
VIDEO – Amazon deliveryman rescued from flood
(video by Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)
Dean Dyer of WRWH News contributed to this report
