A southwest Atlanta woman tried to drive home Thursday afternoon amid constant downpours, only to find the entrance to her subdivision inaccessible without knee-high rubber boots.
Fearing her vehicle would get stuck in the flooded road, Keitha Blackburn decided to sleep somewhere else Thursday night.
While she was eventually able to return home, the inch or two of rain that affected her travel had lingering effects across metro Atlanta on Friday — and the rain isn’t over yet.
Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brad Nitz said up to half an inch of rain is expected across North Georgia by 1 p.m. Saturday, further preventing the flooded areas and streets from recovering.
“It’s not a real wet start (Saturday morning), but it’s going to take a while to dry out,” he said. “Everything is just so saturated.”
Credit: Keitha Blackburn
Credit: Keitha Blackburn
Blackburn’s Regency Pointe Townhome Community, which is off Cascade Parkway, had its only entrance blocked by about 2 feet of water, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That ponding stopped her in her tracks about 5 p.m. Thursday.
“(The rainwater) drains right into that lower basin, and there’s only one drain in the bottom of that basin,” Blackburn said. “It’s not adequate enough for all that water.”
By Friday morning, Blackburn said she drove back to the same area to find another resident’s SUV stuck in the knee-deep water. Fire crews arrived about two hours later to begin pumping the water into a nearby ravine, which had not flooded.
Credit: Keitha Blackburn
Credit: Keitha Blackburn
Another resident, Carmyn Roots, told Channel 2 that she had to push her 7-month-old son through the rain in a stroller after she realized she was out of diapers. She initially tried to drive to a nearby grocery store but wanted to avoid getting stuck or trapped outside her home.
“You become prisoners in your own home, and no one wants that,” Roots said.
In similar fashion, many drivers became prisoners in their cars Friday morning.
Multiple I-285 West lanes were blocked for hours after a car became stuck in still water near Ashford Dunwoody Road in DeKalb County. Several other interstates, including I-75 in Cobb County, were a similar sight.
A 70-foot section of pipe was also compromised on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road at Peachtree Road after the rain washed away dirt at a private construction site. Water customers in the area suffered service interruptions, low pressure and temporary outages as a result, the DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management said.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
In other areas, residents dealt with downed trees, blocked roads and power outages. And at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, travelers had to endure a ground stop that lasted about 75 minutes.
Since the rain isn’t over yet, the National Weather Service has some current flood warnings for Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett and Walton counties due to overflowing creeks.
The Big Creek Greenway is closed until further notice, the City of Alpharetta said, and the flood warning for that creek and Suwanee Creek remains in effect until 7 a.m. Sunday. The Alcovy River area is also under a flood warning until 4 a.m. Saturday.
After 1 p.m. Saturday, a cold front will push the rain out of metro Atlanta. Nitz said that also means temperatures will begin to quickly drop.
By Sunday morning, Atlanta’s temperatures will bottom out near freezing.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
» For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.
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