The rain storms that started in the area Friday and continued early Monday caused few issues in Waycross and Ware County, officials said.
Despite an official National Weather Service rainfall level of a little more than eight inches from 6 p.m October 2 through late afternoon, October 5, nothing other than normal responses were needed locally to handle the storms, which dropped nearly a dozen inches in some areas according to home rain collection gauges.
“As far as any flooding, we had no reports,” Waycross Public Works Director Matt Elwell said. “It means all the work we’ve been doing all summer (to city canals) is paying off.”
Elwell said the lone special call his staffers handled was for cleanup early Monday of a tree that had fallen over a city sidewalk.
His counterpart with Ware County, Mike King, said it was pretty much the same for his workers.
“We held up really well all things considered with that much (rain),” he said. “We had a few sloppy areas like we always get, but we’ve been sanding them to help them dry. Places we usually get some washout held up well.”
That wasn’t the case in Pierce County, however, where sporadic power outages were reported Sunday afternoon and some road damage occurred.
Trudie Road, which ironically was receiving work on drainage improvements before the storms, was among those suffering a wash out. The power outage had first responders directing traffic on U.S. 84 intersections when signals went out at mid-afternoon.
With additional rain up to three inches or more expected Tuesday before finally clearing today (Wednesday, October 7), the NWS issued a flood advisory around noon Monday that extended into Tuesday.
The area’s first flood watch was issued Saturday afternoon when a series of heavy storms beginning around noon dropped more than two inches of rain in less than three hours. Those were extended and severity updated as rain continued.
Today’s clearing was expected to be followed by another rain-free day Thursday. More rain, however, is predicted to arrive Friday for the weekend before likely clearing at the start of next week.
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