Heavy rains made a muddy mess out of northwest counties Wednesday, flooding roads, toppling trees and sending rivers over their banks. The rain also factored into a two-vehicle wreck that killed a woman and critically injured her 11-year-old daughter, police said.
More rain is possible for the rest of the week, forecasters say. Thursday’s forecast includes a 50 percent chance of rain, according to Glenn Burns, Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist. The chance for rain continues through the weekend. That’s unwelcome news to many north Georgians who have already seen more water than they’d like.
It was the second time in less than a week that flash flooding hit the area of the state. Late last week, homes in both Pickens and Gilmer counties were damaged by water.
“They just started recovering from getting flooded out last week,” said Pickens County Sheriff’s Lt. Kris Stancil. “We’re used to dealing with tornadoes. Now we’re learning how to work floods.”
In Pickens, Darla Huffman, who has lived in the Talking Rock community for eight years, was cut off from her home Wednesday by flood waters deeper than she’s ever seen.
“I went to the doctor’s office this morning, and when I tried to get home, I couldn’t,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In Gilmer County, Mike McElwee said Talona Creek, which was flooding the Talona campground, swelled very quickly Wednesday morning.
“You can walk across this thing most of the time and it would be not even up to your knees,” he said of the creek.”I’d say it’s about 12 feet up from where it usually is, and that’s in a couple of hours. It came up that fast.”
Several roads in Pickens and Gilmer counties were blocked by high water, and Ga. 136 in Pickens County was blocked by a mudslide near Burnt Mountain Road. Wednesday afternoon, some school buses had to be re-routed due to flooding, Stancil said.
“It’s a mess, but we’re actually fortunate,” Stancil said late Wednesday. “Damage has been minimal in terms of businesses and homes.”
Road closures were reported in Fulton, Cherokee and Forsyth counties. The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for areas around the Etowah River and Big Creek, and a flash food watch is in effect for the metro area and many counties in north Georgia until 8 a.m. Thursday.
In Forsyth County, rain was believed to be a factor in a two-vehicle wreck on Old Atlanta Road that killed Traci Bieler, 43, of Suwanee, and injured her daughter, the county’s sheriff’s office said. Bieler died when she lost control of her Toyota Camry and drove into the path of a Honda Odyssey, Deputy Doug Rainwater said. Two people in the van and another child in the sedan were transported to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, Rainwater said.
Thursday’s forecast includes a 50 percent chance of rain, according to Glenn Burns, Channel 2 Action News chief meteorologist. The chance for rain continues through the weekend.
— Staff writer Mike Morris and staff photographer John Spink contributed to this report.
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