Worth Co. hopes to dry out - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Worth Co. hopes to dry out

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By Tara Herrschaft - bio | email

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WORTH CO., GA (WALB) -

Several families in Worth County are staying with relatives after water seeped into their homes. More people are preparing for potential flooding as rain continues to fall. Heavy rainfall is turning backyards into ponds.

Robert Still, who lives on North County Line Road in Worth County is up to his knees in water. And with more rain expected, it could get worse. 

Still is concerned about house flooding. "But there's nothing we can do. If it floods, we're not considered a flood plain so there's no flood insurance that we can get. So we got to come out of pocket there. We got to come out of pocket for these pumps that you hear we got running right now."

Still's neighbor has been using this pump to help out clear out their yards. But mother nature seems to be winning the battle. All of this water is from the overflow of nearby ponds, which has problems draining. Emergency management officials are keeping a close watch on the rainfall totals.

Thomas Whittington, Worth County EMA Director said, "Worth County is just saturated. The water has nowhere to go. The rain that we've had the past several days is starting to back up again out of the creeks, the low lying areas."

Sandbags are still available for residents in the city of Sylvester and in Worth County. Officials are urging folks to be very careful and prepare for more water. "The thing we're concerned about here in Worth County is everything that we get north is coming to us and we're already saturated. And the thing that people have to know, we don't know where it's going, what it's going to do.

Mother nature's going to run her course, what we're here to do is help assist and pick up the pieces after she leaves." And for residents like Still, evacuating is an option if water gets too close.

 "My son is at the house now, I got a 7 year old that I'm trying to make sure we get him taken care of. And I got stuff in boxes right now that I can just throw in the car."

While more rain is expected into Tuesday morning, Still says all he can do is worry about now.

In the past, officials had problems with the subdivision but thanks to a flood buyout grant, they turned some of those areas into green space, which is now where the rain goes.

Emergency Management officials say social media has been a key tool in getting information out to residents.

Citizens in Worth County can contact Worth County Fire Rescue at 229-776-8223 for sandbags.  The limit is 20 bags per home.  Citizens living in the city need to contact Sylvester Fire Department at 229-776-8510 for sandbags.

 

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