Monday rains add to roads still closed from Sept. floods

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two steps forward, one step back. Heavy rain early Monday made for a hairy ride through spray and pooled water on streets and highways. September’s “epic” floods it wasn’t.

But it didn’t help with the scores of roads that remain closed across the metro area from last month. After those floods washed out hundreds of roads, state and local bridge inspectors and road crews made steady progress opening them back up.

But Monday, the weather put a stop to most of that work, and shut down a handful of new ones to boot.

“Because of the pounding they took some of the same roads got flooded again,” said Neil Jenkins, co-owner of the Irish Bred Pub in Douglasville. Once again, some of his servers had to go home and check on flooded basements.

However, he said, “It’s nothing like, obviously, a couple of weeks ago,” and he’s looking forward to sun after Thursday. Here’s a rundown of some metro counties.

Douglas County

Still appears to be the hardest hit. By the end of the day Monday four dozen roads from the September floods remained closed for repairs. In addition, as a result of Monday’s rains, Post Road shut down in two locations, said county spokesman Matthew Kent. Most of the road closures are scheduled for reopening in one to six weeks.

Cobb County

By Monday, Old Stilesboro Road was supposed to re-open at last, said Cobb County’s director of transportation, David Montanye. Then it started to rain again. As of late Monday Montanye had no idea when he could tell Cobb drivers that it or a handful of others would be usable again. Five roads were impassable due to the rains, three from September’s floods and two from Monday. The new ones are on Eula Drive and Bishop Lake Road. The county hopes Birds Mill Street, closed since September, will reopen by Oct. 19.

Gwinnett County

About a dozen roads remain closed after last month’s floods, including Cruse Road off of Pleasant Hill Road, said Gwinnett County’s transportation director, Brian Allen. All should be repaired within the month, he said. Monday’s rains brought some smaller road closures, mostly temporary – “a couple unpaved roads in some low areas near some creeks,” Allen said. “There’s no comparison” between the two events, he said, though “the weather we’re having today doesn’t help in the repair of the other projects.”

Fulton County

Cochran Mill Road was closed near Camp Creek because of Monday’s weather, said county police spokeswoman Kay Lester, but she knew of no other remaining flood road closures in unincorporated Fulton. “We were really not affected,” she said. The state Department of Transportation said last week it would help replace bridges in Sandy Springs on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road over Nancy Creek, and on Riverside Drive across Marsh Creek.

DeKalb County

Panola Road closed briefly at Snapfinger on Monday, but they got it open and weather was expected to recede until Wednesday, according to county spokeswoman Shelia Edwards. DOT was working to replace a bridge on Redan Road over Barbashela Creek in DeKalb from last month’s floods.