As many as 39 roads have closed in Rome and surrounding areas of Floyd County as flooding continues across North Georgia.
Emergency officials are keeping an eye on the Oostanaula River as days of rainfall into the already saturated region have caused trouble for motorists.
“The ground has been saturated and there’s nowhere for it to go,” Emergency Management Agency director Tim Herrington told Channel 2 Action News.
With the Oostanaula nearly 4.5 feet above flood stage and rising, Herrington said he hasn’t seen it so high in his 15 years on the job.
In addition to the more than three dozen roads that have closed this week, several Floyd County parks and walking trails remain under water. In addition, Floyd County Schools delayed opening by two hours Friday after canceling after-school activities Thursday.
Michael Skeen, Floyd County’s public works director, told AJC.com that flooding got worse during a series of storms Tuesday afternoon.
“About 3 or 4 o’clock it started raining real hard and it hasn’t really let up since,” he said, adding that the county has experienced downpours and flash floods in the days since.
But most Floyd County residents are used to the flooding, Skeen said.
Rome is where the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers come together to form the Coosa.
“This is not unusual,” he said. “It probably happens once every five or 10 years. As the river backs up, there’s only so far it can go. Hopefully we’re done, but with the forecast, I don’t know. It might get worse.”
A flood watch continues for far North Georgia counties, where another inch or more of rain is possible. The watch is scheduled to expire at 7 p.m. Friday.
With already saturated soils, “this amount of rainfall will produce significant runoff and flooding of creeks and rivers,” the National Weather Service said earlier Friday.
Several rivers across North Georgia have already reached minor flood stage. Flood warnings remain in effect for Big Creek near Alpharetta, Etowah River in Cherokee County and Sweetwater Creek affecting Cobb and Douglas counties.
Motorists in flooded areas are reminded not to drive on shuttered roads.
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