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September 22, 2009

'Quiet day' in Whitfield County on Tuesday, elsewhere in state not as fortunate

Rachel Brown

With flooding to the north, south and west, Whitfield and Murray counties have so far managed to escape the worst of this week’s rain-related problems.

“We haven’t really had anything today,” said Jeffrey Putnam, Whitfield County Emergency Management director on Tuesday. “Today has been a very quiet day for Whitfield County.”

Cherokee Drive was closed for part of the day, Georgia State Patrol officials said, and Putnam said Lower Kings Bridge Road near the Murray County line was closed as well.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for the Conasauga River near Eton and Coahulla Creek near Keith’s Mill until further notice. Urban areas and areas near small streams in Whitfield and Murray counties remain under a flood warning until 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Over the past 24 hours, parts of Whitfield received half an inch of rain, weather service maps showed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, while parts of Murray County received closer to an inch. On Sunday and Monday, between nine and 15 inches of rain hit parts of North Georgia, the weather service reported.

In Murray County, emergency management director Dwayne Bain said Norton Bridge Road was closed all day with water deep enough for a boat.

“The only report that we got was somebody thought they (saw) a white pickup truck in the water,” Bain said, “but we had a Whitfield County boat and a Murray County boat in, and neither boat (saw) anything.”

He said the call came about 2 p.m. The current was too swift for searchers to go into the main vein of the Conasauga River.

Reece Carroll, operations manager for the Dalton Public Works Department, said there were no roads flooded out in the city.

“Everything receded yesterday,” he said Tuesday afternoon, “and we got to open up everything before quitting time.”

A Dalton Utilities spokeswoman said there were no sewerage overflows or other flooding related problems.

Emergency workers in Whitfield and Murray counties said there were no home evacuations, injuries or additional road closings they knew about on Tuesday.

“We’ve been really fortunate,” Putnam said. “This has been nothing but just another really heavy rainfall for us.”

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., was in Catoosa County on Tuesday as part of a tour of flooded counties in his district that Gov. Sonny Perdue declared in a state of emergency. Whitfield and Murray counties were not among the flooded counties.

According to the National Weather Service, showers were possible Tuesday night, with more rain in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. There is a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms both days.

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