Chattanooga: Rising water nears flood level

The Chattanooga area escaped much of the flooding that closed schools and roads across North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee Wednesday, but meteorologists say that’s only because the worst is coming today.

“All the runoff is still draining into (South Chickamauga Creek),” said Mike Propst, a meteorological technician at the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. “We’ve got a lot of rain down there, and it’s pretty slow draining. But it keeps coming in.”

Though the area will see light rainfall — if any — today, the creek is expected to crest at 23 feet by mid afternoon, according to Mr. Propst. That amounts to about five feet beyond what’s considered flood level, said David Glenn, chief meteorologist for WTVC-TV NewsChannel 9.

When that happens, Mr. Propst said, Airport Road probably will have to close to traffic and a few homes may be affected near the intersection of Mack Smith Road and May Street. Flooding likely will become extensive around the north end of the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, he said.

Mr. Glenn predicted today and Friday would be dry, which would provide the chance for the ground to dry out some. But rain was expected Saturday, although it won’t be as heavy as Tuesday’s, he said.

Both Chattanooga and Hamilton County officials said they were watching the overnight forecasts to determine how best to prepare for potential flooding today.

“The creek’s rising, and we’re just monitoring it. Keeping our eye out,” said Chattanooga Director of City Services Jim Templeton.

If the worst is yet to come, that’s bad news for Roger Goff and his family. Living at the end of May Street in Rossville, Ga., his yard already was being swallowed by the creek Wednesday evening.

“I put a traffic cone out in the street around 10 a.m., and now you can barely see the top,” Mr. Goff said.

Although the main floor of his wood-frame house sits on a six-foot cement basement, he’s already moved most of his furniture to higher ground. In his 14 years living in the home, he has never seen the water rise above the basement, but this time he’s not so sure, he said.

“It rises fast,” he said.

Around the corner on Mack Smith Road, Tyler Simpson, 13, and a group of friends gathered to watch cars and trucks brave 3-foot-deep water that had formed a pond on the road. The street was barricaded earlier in the day, but Tyler and his friends said big trucks and cars had been testing their luck by driving through the water all day.

“We saw a Honda Civic come through earlier,” Tyler said. “The water was up to the windows, but it made it through.”

Signs warned motorists that Davidson Road in East Brainerd was closed to through traffic — one section was about five feet under water.

“I’ve seen this a few times, but it’s been several years since Davidson’s been under water,” said Jeff Templin, a 22-year veteran of the public works department. “Tuesday night we had to keep moving the signs because the rising water would cover their bases.”

On Wednesday, crews used racks and backhoes to clear ditches and were calling for sandbags, not to hold back water but to keep high winds from blowing warning signs off the road.

Still, officials said, most Hamilton County roads were passable by late Wednesday. While a few roads — including Davidson — still were closed at rush hour Wednesday, “it’s settling down pretty well,” Mr. Templeton said.

EPB crews worked through the day to repair power outages for a few thousand customers, spokeswoman Lacie Newton said. A total of about 2,000 customers lost power between Sale Creek and north Red Bank early Wednesday morning, she said, but that outage and other smaller outages were addressed as the day wore on.

The situation seemed under enough control that Hamilton County Schools officials didn’t expect to close schools again today.

“With the weather kind of having passed us by, we have no intention of closing,” spokeswoman Danielle Clark said Wednesday. “But then again, you never know.”