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Staff Photo by Tim Barber Heavy rain on Friday fills the ditch on Signal Mountain Boulevard where Willie Moore, highway maintenance worker for the Tennessee Deptartment of Transportation, works his 12-hour traffic management shift below last weeks road collapse. "I'm doing the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. thing today," Mr. Moore said.
Persistent rainfall Friday and possible snow this weekend have transportation officials on guard for icy conditions and potential rock slides.
Salt trucks, contractors and geotechnical engineers are on standby in case a wintry mix of precipitation this weekend causes problems, said Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Transportation's 24-county region that includes Chattanooga.
"We are always concerned when it rains, particularly in mountainous areas," she said. "We are constantly monitoring these areas."
Rain hardly let up all day Friday. In East Ridge, Camp Jordan Parkway at the entrance to Camp Jordan Park was closed in the afternoon because of high water levels, and it could remain closed through the weekend depending upon the rain, East Ridge Director of Public Safety Eddie Phillips said in a news release.
In Chattanooga, the forecast today calls for a 30 percent chance of rain, possibly changing to snow this afternoon and evening when a cold front comes through, said Mike Propst, meteorological technician with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn.
One to 3 inches of snow could accumulate east of Chattanooga, including Polk County, he said.
An "inordinate" amount of rainfall since August, combined with a few freezes and thaws, has loosened steep mountain slopes in the region and contributed to recent rock slides, said Lee Norris, deputy administrator of Chattanooga's Public Works Department.
A Nov. 10 slide in Polk County closed U.S. Highway 64, which TDOT officials say won't reopen until mid-January at the earliest.
Engineers closely are watching the east side of the rock slide on U.S. 64, which is unstable and could worsen with the heavy rainfall Friday, Ms. Flynn said.
On Dec. 9, heavy rain caused a part of Signal Mountain Boulevard to wash out, opening a crater that is being repaired. Last weekend, a minor rock slide closed Scenic Highway on Lookout Mountain for less than 24 hours.
After 1 to 3 inches of rain Friday, North Georgia could see 1 or 2 inches of snow in the higher elevations today, said Matt Sena, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Ga.
"The ground remains very wet, so in those mountainous areas people do need to be alert for rock slides or mud slides," he said.
South Chickamauga Creek is expected to rise to 14.1 feet at its highest point of the weekend, which is still four feet shy of flood stage, said Steve Quinn, director of emergency management in Catoosa County.
"Right now we're just mainly keeping an eye on it," he said.
WEEKEND FORECAST
In Chattanooga
* Today: A 30 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41.
* Tonight: A chance of rain showers before 2 a.m., then a slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.
* Sunday: A slight chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
SOURCE: National Weather Service
ROAD CLOSURE
Signal Mountain Boulevard is closed:
* Midnight Friday to 6 a.m. Monday
* 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday-Friday
Health care reporter Emily Bregel has worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since July 2006. She previously covered banking and wrote for the Life section. Emily, a native of Baltimore, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. She received a first-place award for feature writing from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Contest for a 2009 article about a boy with a congenital heart defect. She ...
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