State of Emergency Declared in Georgia After Severe Flooding

Georgia declared a state of emergency as a result of severe floods. On Sunday, heavy rains brought by sluggish storms caused flooding at a water treatment facility, hampered transport, and delayed a Major League Baseball game in northern Georgia.

Heavy Downpour

Following Sunday's heavy downpour and catastrophic flooding that cut off electricity and impacted the local water supply, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced a state of emergency in two of the state's northwest counties.

Over the weekend, floodwaters grew in Chattooga County, Georgia, when a storm brought a downpour that forced the cities of Summerville, Trion, and Lyerly to declare a flash flood emergency.

A flash flood warning was also issued for Floyd County, which is located south of Chattooga County.

State of Emergency

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, urging people to seek higher ground immediately since the situation was life-threatening.

According to the meteorological service, this weather notice is only issued in "very unusual circumstances where exceptionally heavy rain is leading to a grave hazard to human life, and catastrophic damage from a flash flood is happening or will happen soon."

According to Kemp's executive order, the two hard-hit counties may have received up to 12 inches of rain.

Due to flash flooding at the Raccoon Creek water treatment facility, one of two in the city, a boil water advisory was issued for the city of Summerville on Sunday.

Summerville is one of the localities covered by the flash flood emergency.

A local news source, The Summerville News, reported that this also applies to Menlo consumers.

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Water Problem

Residents who wanted to use the water for drinking, cooking, or making baby food were told by municipal officials that they should boil it for at least one minute after it reached a rolling boil.

"Until their drinking water utility notifies them that the water system has been restored to full operation and that the microbiological quality of the water in the distribution system is safe for human use," the city advised its citizens to continue boiling their water.

The Summerville News said that in addition to the boil order, water might pose a serious problem for the two cities in the upcoming weeks due to treatment facility water pumps that are down and submerged.

People started listing streets in the city with either no water or poor water pressure in the comments section of the news source's Facebook posts about the water issue.

On Sunday, drinking water was carried to the Summerville City Hall in the parking area next to the fire station.

Dangerous Flood

In Chattooga County, drone footage showed roadways turning into roaring rivers and creeks overflowing with floodwater.

The flooding made travel practically difficult by encroaching on homes, destroying bridges, and blocking roadways.

Weather Forecast

According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Reneé Duff, "there is simply a stagnant weather pattern in place throughout the eastern portion of the U.S. that is producing daily rounds of soaking rains and thunderstorms."

It all hinges on where these storms build up and remain for hours. "Light winds in the atmosphere are causing these storms not to move very much. That, coupled with a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, is a recipe for flash flood disasters on a local level."

Even stil,l there's still a chance for further local rainfall this week in the area.