ALBANY, GA (WALB) -
There are still a few showers falling in south Georgia, Wednesday night, but thankfully we are about to start drying out after several days of heavy rain.
Dougherty County Public Works crews are still working to pump water out of flooded areas and Albany crews are trying to lower the level of holding ponds that filled to the brim.
Those crews say, without flood prevention efforts, the problems we're dealing with now could be worse.
Dougherty County Public Works Assistant Director Chuck Mathis shows off one of ten pumps installed around the county to help push water out of holding ponds and into the Flint River.
The county used SPLOST money to buy the pumps following floods in 2009. Mathis says if it weren't for them, flooding on Pine Bluff Road could be a lot worse.
"When we didn't have this here we had flooding that went out further than it does here. All up and down War Eagle here and down East St.," said Mathis.
City of Albany Public Works crews were also out Wednesday continuing cleanup efforts by draining holding ponds.
"We've had crews running nonstop for the past three days," said City of Albany Sewer Superintendent Ann Zimmer-Shepherd.
Officials worked to lower the level of holding ponds before the heavy rain, preventing major flooding.
"The holding ponds are our way of being able to store the runoff. At this time we're trying to move water the best we can downstream," said Zimmer-Shepherd.
Now both departments have warnings for you at home on how to stay safe in flood conditions and help avoid major flooding in your area.
"If a road is blocked off then don't go through that water because we don't know the conditions of the road beds and how the water has deteriorated it," said Mathis.
"It's always useful if people can keep their storm drains clean. Make sure they don't put their yard debris in a place where it can be rushed into the gullies and then be carried into the catch basins because we have thousands of them and it very difficult to keep up with keeping all of them clean," said Zimmer-Shepherd.
That will help prevent conditions like this the next time heavy rain falls.
The Flint River level was low because of several years of drought, so even with all this rain, the River will not reach flood stage.
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