A band of heavy rain that swept into metro Atlanta early Thursday had moved well east of the area by 8 a.m. after dumping an additional half-inch of rain in some areas.
Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton said conditions will be partly sunny but breezy through the afternoon.
Minton said much of the state, including metro Atlanta, is under a wind advisory through 7 p.m. for gusts to 35 mph.
Despite the additional overnight rain, the National Weather Service canceled the flood watch that had extended through Thursday afternoon.
A few counties across North Georgia remained under flood warnings for specific creeks that were expected to approach flood stage.
In metro Atlanta, flood warnings were in effect for Big Creek near Cumming and Alpharetta and the Etowah River near Canton.
Additional rainfall totals from the overnight rain generally ranged from about a quarter-inch to around a half-inch, including .60 inch in Chamblee, .49 inch in Alpharetta and .28 inch at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where wind gusts of 31 mph were recorded just before daybreak.
While Atlanta's weather was causing no flight problems late Thursday morning, departures to New York City-area airports were being delayed an avaerage of about two hours because of storms there, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Minton's forecast for the rest of the week calls for afternoon highs Thursday in the low 50s, followed by overnight lows in the mid-30s. Sunny skies are predicted for Friday through Sunday, with highs in the mid-50s on Friday, climbing into the upper 60s on Saturday and Sunday. Lows will gradually warm into the upper 40s.
Between 2 and 4 inches of rain soaked the Atlanta area on Wednesday. The hardest hit areas were mostly in northwest Georgia, Channel 2 meteorologist Brad Nitz told the AJC.
There was an occasional rumble of thunder, but Wednesday's weather was mostly just rain. While 1.3 inches of rain was recorded at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 3.8 inches soaked Cedartown, Channel 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns said.
In Austell, the heavy rains were an uneasy reminder of the September 2009 flooding, which swamped the south Cobb County town, washing out homes and an elementary school.
Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins checked out water levels at Sweetwater Creek around lunchtime on Wednesday and found that the water level had not risen significantly. Despite the flood watch, Jerkins was not expecting problems in his city.
It takes at least 8 inches of rain before Austell would have to close a road, he said, and at least 12 inches for the water to reach any houses. Anything less than that, the city can handle without having problems, Jerkins said.
Sam Rana, the manager of the Austell Food Store on Powder Springs Road, near Sweetwater Creek, said all his regular customers were talking about Wednesday was the rain.
“It’s on everybody’s mind,” Rana said. “We were all here in 2009 and it was bad. Our roof was leaking and half the streets were flooded.”
- Staff writers Alexis Stevens, Rich McKay and Janel Davis contributed to this report.
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