Southwest Georgia dodges bullet as initial flooding predictions revised downward

ALBANY — For emergency management officials, the motto is always “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

This week the latter was the outcome: An anticipated significant flooding of southwest Georgia waterways did not become reality as early predictions were revised downward.

Tropical Storm Sally brought more than 8 inches of rainfall to Lee County and dropped 6.5 inches of precipitation in Albany. A Thursday prediction that the Flint River was going to crest at 33 feet over the weekend has been revised to a crest 23.1 feet, a significant decrease. On Friday afternoon, the river was at 10.64 feet.

“I think we’re going to be just fine,” said Rubin Jordan, assistant chief with the Albany Fire Department.

If the initial projection had held, he said, there would have been significant water covering land in several locations in Albany, including the area behind the Albany Civic Center.

Operators at Lake Blackshear and Georgia Power also adjusted the water flow to limit the rise of water here, Jordan said.

The Muckalee Creek was expected to crest at 14.1 feet near Leesburg Saturday, creating minor flooding, and the Kinchafoonee at 14.2 feet Sunday morning at Pinewood Road in Lee County.

“Thankfully, no homes should be impacted,” Jordan said. “It’s a great sigh of relief.”

Emergency management officials will keep an eye on other storms that could impact the area.

For only the second time, the named tropical systems in a hurricane season have run through the alphabet. On Friday Tropical Storm Beta formed in the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to become a hurricane.

“We’re coming off the peak of the season,” Jordan said. “There are still some disturbances out there. We’ll be monitoring the tropics.”

In Lee County, the Muckalee Creek’s crest of 14.2 feet was not expected to cause damage to structures, Lee County Emergency Management Director Cole Williams said.

“I don’t see any significant impact, from talking to the residents,” he said. “They say it takes about 15 feet for it to affect any of their homes.

“(From) the overall impact, we came out quite well. The only thing we had was a lot of rain, but no long-term effects by any means.”

On Thursday, when predictions were for much higher levels of water moving through the creeks, Lee County officials went door-to-door alerting residents and distributed sand bags for residents’ use to protect homes.

“It’s not a bad thing to be over-prepared,” Williams said. “Especially when it was (predicted the crest) was going to be 19.5 feet. The good thing is that didn’t happen.”

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