Officials keep eye on creek as more rain predicted
By Adam Crisp and Andy Johns acrisp@timesfreepress.com
Roads are open, and creeks and rivers are receding following heavy floods this week. But there is plenty of worry about more rain expected this weekend. In Hamilton County, South Chickamauga Creek could fall below flood stage sometime this afternoon and return to normal levels by this weekend, forecasters say. That is, if expected rains on Saturday aren’t as heavy as have been predicted. “We’re just hoping all the weather people are wrong,” Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey said Wednesday during a news conference in East Ridge. “But we also hope that the creek gets back below flood stage before we get more rain.” In Georgia’s Chattooga County, Emergency Management Director Lamar Canada said most roads were re-opened by Wednesday evening, with the exception of one bridge in the Cloudland area. All evacuees in Trion, Ga., were allowed to go back home Wednesday, but some will not have electricity until Georgia Power completes its evaluation of the area, Mr. Canada said. Many residents of the town were evacuated after the Chattooga River overflowed a dam. Saturday’s forecast calls for about 2 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. That will be added on top of the 10 inches of rain earlier this week that led up to the worst flooding since 2003. Monday’s rain set a record for Sept. 21 when 3.41 inches fell in Chattanooga, and that’s the same day floodwaters reached many folks’ front doors. Though Saturday’s rain won’t compare to the massive downpours seen in the days leading up the floods, it is coming at a time when the ground already is saturated, which could lead
to more floods. “We’re concerned about Saturday’s rain,” East Ridge City Manager William Whitson said. “We will have staff on standby.” East Ridge officials say 260 homes or businesses were damaged by the floods. About 500 people were evacuated by emergency workers, including 120 residents of East Ridge Retirement Center, who had to be removed when a pump behind a retaining wall failed. The Red Cross is working with Grace Works Church in Chattanooga to bring a group of soldiers from Fort Campbell, Ky., to the area today to aid in the cleanup effort, said Barbara Alexander, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter. The Red Cross has closed its Walker County and Summerville, Ga., shelters because of a lack of need, officials said. John Hitchens, emergency services director for the American Red Cross of Greater Chattanooga, said he expected the remaining shelter at Brainerd Recreation Center to close about Friday. “But, realistically, as long as people need comfort, we’ll be here,” he said. Chattanooga firefighters continued the search Wednesday for the remains of a man presumed to have drowned when he was pulled into a flooded culvert on 23rd Street on Sunday. Searchers went underground with protective gear and masks to search for Sylvester Kitchens, 45, but after checking about 1,600 feet of drain pipes, they came up empty, said fire department spokesman Bruce Garner. Local leaders also are lobbying U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga, and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both R-Tenn., to help the state get a federal disaster area declaration. For that qualification, Hamilton County must have $955,000 in damage and the state must have $7 million in damage, according Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue already has presented his request for federal aid to President Barack Obama. Hamilton County wasn’t the only locale with damage as a result of recent bad weather. A handful of other Tennessee rivers are at or near flood stage, the National Weather Service reports. Gov. Phil Bredesen “has pledged whatever support we need,” Mr. Ramsey said. So city and county officials, along with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, will spend the next few days trying to apply a dollar-loss figure to the flood damage, Mr. Ramsey said. In Trion, schools will be back in sessions today, and Superintendent Phil Williams said it will be an emotional day for those who knew drowning victim Nick Osley, a student at Summerville Middle School. The 14-year-old drowned Monday in a flooded cornfield. Mr. Williams said additional counselors would be on hand to talk to students and a fundraising campaign has been started to help the family. “It’s going to be a rough time tomorrow,” he said. Mr. Canada said Trion residents should not drink any tap water until given the all-clear, but tanks of drinking water from Carroll and Haralson counties in Georgia arrived Wednesday, along with several pallets of bottled water from Anheuser- Busch in Cartersville, Ga. Water in East Ridge is safe to drink, Mr. Whitson said. In Chickamauga, where many residents also returned home Wednesday, some said they had seen people drive by in trucks and raid trash piles for scrap metal. Chickamauga Police Chief Michael Haney said he hadn’t received any reports of that, but once residents put something out as trash it is fair game. “There isn’t really anything to stop them,” he said. Chief Haney and Catoosa Sheriff Phil Summers both said residents appeared to be acting responsibly and there were no widespread reports of looting. Sheriff Summers said Wednesday that most of Catoosa County was back on track except for a portion of Mack Smith Road. Chattooga County officials released a statement about 2 p.m. Wednesday saying the 700 and 800 blocks of Mount Pisgah Road would be closed to traffic because the road was “severely compromised and unsafe for travel.” Staff writers Ben Benton and Kevin Hardy contributed to this story.