Staff Photo by Angela Lewis
High waters flood many area roads while number of school systems are closed

High waters from heavy rains flooded roads in many parts of the Chattanooga area with Walker County reporting it had been particularly hard hit.

Emergency personnel closed Brainerd Road between Germantown and Moore roads because of flooding. The local Red Cross will open a shelter at the Brainerd Recreation Center at noon.

The Chattanooga Police Department is warning motorists to avoid E. 23d Street and to not drive around the barricades. The Wilcox Boulevard tunnel is also flooded and has been barricaded.

At the same time, a number of school systems in the area reported they were closed. Among them were Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga schools and those in the Chickamauga City Schools system. Falling Water and Clifton Hills Elementary schools were reported closed because of electrical problems.

Walker County dispatchers said officers were working to evacuate the Chestnut Hills Mobile Home Park on Lee Avenue due to flooding. Parts of Highway 341 both Northbound and Southbound were closed in Walker County this morning around 8:30 a.m.

Catoosa County dispatchers said emergency crews were evacuating the Fountain Brook apartments in Fort Oglethorpe. The dispatcher also reported road closings on Poplar Springs Road at Heritage High and Middle School; Jones Road at Alabama Highway; Haggard Road at the bridge; Cross Street at Riddle Street; HIghway 41 at the Cracker Barrell; Park City Road behind Hutcheson Hospital; Van Cleve Street at Gilbert Stephens Park in Ft. Oglethorpe; Pine Grove Road at Dailey Hills Road and Old Mill Road; Mount Pisgah at Bomant.

Dade County dispatchers said there were several trees down in the county but none were across roads and no one was injured. There was no significant flooding to report, the dispatcher said.

Business owners on 23rd Street in Chattanooga were also scrambling to protect property and avoid rising water, according to reports.

Since 3 p.m. Sunday, Chattanooga has received 6.03 inches of rain at Lovell Field, according to the National Weather service.

According to volunteer weather reporters with the National Weather Service’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, Hixson saw 3.34 inches of rain between 7 a.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. this morning and Signal Mountain saw 1.12 inches in the same span. Around Southeast Tennessee Beersheba Springs in Grundy County received 3.11 inches; Jasper received 2 inches; Monteagle received 4.12; Cleveland received between 2.71 and 1.65; Pikeville received between 1.6 and 1.84; Dunlap saw between 2.36 and 2.62; and Etowah received 1.69.

In Georgia Lyerly in Chattooga County saw 1.61, Summerville saw 1.94, according to the volunteer network. There were no reports from Walker, Catoosa, Dade or Whitfield by 9 a.m. this morning.

The heaviest hit area in Georgia was an area of west Georgia between Douglasville and Carrolton that saw 14 inches fall overnight, according to the Weather Service.

Meteorologists with the Weather Service office in Peachtree City, Ga. said don’t expect the sun to shine anytime soon.

“We’re keeping rain in the forecast it looks like through the weekend,” said Frank Taylor, a meteorological technician in Peachtree City.

He said the low pressure system, which originated in East Texas, is being held in place by another low pressure system in the Atlantic and another in the Gulf of Mexico.

See this Web site later in the day for more comprehensive coverage. Also see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for complete coverage.