After finishing January and February with rainfall deficits for the month and year, Atlanta will wrap up March with a hefty surplus.
Through noon on Wednesday, the city's official gauge at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport had recorded 15.85 inches of rainfall for the year -- 9 inches of that in March alone -- a surplus of 3.92 inches for the month and 1.06 inches for the year; and that's with one more rainy day to go before the beginning of April.
In January, only 2.63 inches of rain fell, just over half the normal rainfall for the month of 5.03 inches. February was a little better, with a rainfall total of 4.25 inches, just .43 below normal.
The recent heavy rains left both Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona -- the primary sources of the area's drinking water -- slightly above the full mark. Lanier's level Wednesday was 1,071.35 feet, or .35 foot above full pool, while Allatoona's level of 840.55 feet was .55 foot above full pool.
Numerous wrecks were reported Wednesday on metro Atlanta thoroughfares and a house fire in DeKalb was blamed on lightning as strong storms swamped the morning commute for the second time this week.
The latest round of storms began moving into the northwestern suburbs around 4 a.m., dropping about one-third inch of rain in an hour.
By 5 a.m., the heavy rain was inside the Perimeter, soaking downtown and making a mess of the rush hour.
The wet roads possibly contributed to a fatal crash around 7 a.m. on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard south of Ga. 20 in the Buford area.
At 6 a.m., the state Department of Transportation reported wrecks on I-285 northbound south of Glenwood Road, on I-285 southbound at Lavista Road, on I-285 northbound south of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and on the southbound Downtown Connector at I-20.
Other wrecks included crashes on Ga. 400 northbound near Haynes Bridge Road and northbound and southbound at Mansell Road and on I-85 southbound north of Pleasant Hill Road.
At 7:30 a.m., a multi-car wreck on I-285 at Riverside Drive had all eastbound lanes blocked, according to the AM 750 and now 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center.
In DeKalb County, firefighters said lightning started a fire that partially gutted a house on Breton Court, in a neighborhood near Oglethorpe University. No injuries were reported.
DeKalb fire Batt. Chief Garret Smith said that the occupants were awake and “they did verify that they had a lightning strike very close to the house. Immediately, the power went out, and the home started filling up with smoke.”
Homeowner J. Max Davis, his wife and their three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, all got out of the house safely.
Davis said that at first, he “heard a big bang, a big thunderclap” down the street, and about five minutes later, “I heard one that sounded like it was right outside my window. It made the house jump, it was so loud.”
He said his wife, who was downstairs working out, came upstairs and told him she smelled smoke.
“I went downstairs and saw some smoke coming out of the recessed lighting downstairs,” Davis said. “I opened the door into the garage and there was a flame. I thought for about two seconds, ‘there’s a sink near it, should I try to put it out,’and I said, ‘life is more important,’ so I ran upstairs and got everybody out.”
Davis said he then ran back inside to look for the family’s dog, not realizing the dog had already escaped through a doggie door.
“I went inside and the house was already filled with smoke,” he told the AJC. “If I had been in there another 30 or 40 seconds, I would have collapsed from the smoke, because it was so thick.”
The storms were also causing minor delays averaging 19 minutes for arriving flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Rainfall totals through 7 a.m. included 1.05 inches at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, .48 in Marietta and .96 near Mableton. The rain knocked the pollen count down from 937 particles of pollen per cubic meter of air on Tuesday morning to 396 on Wednesday.
The heavy rain had moved into the eastern and southern suburbs by 7:30 a.m., but radar showed more showers stretching westward through Alabama into Mississippi, all headed toward Georgia.
The rain was expected to continue much of the day; Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton put the chance of rain at 100 percent for Wednesday.
Minton said some of the storms could produce small hail during the afternoon hours.
The chance of rain diminishes to 30 percent Wednesday night but goes back up to 50 percent on Thursday, Minton said.
The rain should end on Friday, leaving skies mostly sunny for the weekend.
Afternoon temperatures will be in the low 60s through Friday, climbing into the upper 60s on Saturday and low 70s on Sunday.
Staff photographer John Spink contributed to this article.
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