Some Lowndes homes evacuated - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Red Cross stages as Lowndes waters rise

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By Dave Miller - email
The Creekside Tavern Restaurant The Creekside Tavern Restaurant
VALDOSTA, GA (WALB) -

As Cherry Creek has floods its banks, causing problems on Meadow Brook Drive in Valdosta, the American Red Cross is staging a command center to be of assistance.

Some people are evacuating, and moving out their furniture. Water has gotten into a few homes in this neighborhood.

        

Lowndes County Emergency Management released this information--

Local rivers are still flowing well above flood stage in most areas of the county.  The Little River crested at Hwy 122 yesterday afternoon and has begun to slowly recede at that point.  The crest continues to make its way downstream so points south of Hwy 122 can still expect up to an additional foot of vertical rise in the water level.

Anyone with property along the Little River or Franks Creek should continue to monitor water levels the remainder of the day.  The crest is expected to reach the Hwy 133 boat ramp later tonight.

The Withlacoochee River crested at Skipper Bridge Rd at 2AM at a level of 21.8 feet.  It has begun to recede but the water levels are going to drop very slowly as everything is still saturated and flowing full.  The crest is expected to pass the Foxborough gauge at N Valdosta Rd within the next few hours. 

People along the Little River and Sugar Creek, to include the Foxborough and Gornto Rd areas can expect an additional foot of rise in the water level before cresting occurs.  It may take several days for the water to recede.

The gauge at Hwy 84 is expected to crest tomorrow morning at 32 feet.  This is 2½ feet below the 2009 crest level.  People along the Withlacoochee and in areas that flooded in 2009 should continue to monitor the water levels over the next few days and take appropriate actions if it appears that water will rise high enough to threaten their homes. 

Under no circumstances should motorists travel across flooded roads, streets or bridges.  Standing water may hide significant damage to the infrastructure underneath; take precaution and avoid flooded areas. 

Local road conditions are being closely monitored, the following roads remain closed:  Shiloh Road, Clyattville Nankin Road, Morven Road and Gornto Road. 

Monitor local river levels by accessing real time stream gauge information by HERE. 

Any additional closures will be announced immediately; please stay tuned to local media outlets. Lowndes County Emergency Management will continue to utilize the CodeRed Emergency Notification system in the event emergency information is released. 

Citizens are encouraged to sign up for this free service by visiting www.lowndescounty.com and clicking on the CodeRed icon. 

In the event of an emergency, please dial 911.  However, please do not call 911 for weather information, traffic updates, road closures, etc.  This information will be available through local media outlets and Lowndes County's website, www.lowndescounty.com.

For more information, please contact Lowndes County Public Information Officer, Paige Dukes, 229-292-6142 or pdukes@lowndescounty.com.  Additional information will be released as it becomes available. 

All the water from the Withlacoochee River doesn't help the City of Valdosta with its sewage pump station issue. Some manholes along the Withlacoochee Interceptor line and trunk lines feeding the interceptor are now under flood water.  Inflow from the flood will continue to cause high flow at the treatment plant until the flood waters recede.

The city is also having a new headworks facility and equalization basin designed for the Withlacoochee WPCP that will reduce the effect of inflow and infiltration on the plant processes.  Both of these designs are 60% complete.

The City of Valdosta plans to move the facility to a higher elevation to prevent future flooding.  This move will allow the plant to be completely redesigned and re-built.

The Withlacoochee River in south Berrien County off South Old Coffee Road has gone up since Tuesday. Owners of one house estimate there's three feet of water in their house. Floods in 2009 put six feet of water in the same house.

The National Weather Service says the Flint River in Albany will crest at 22 feet on Thursday at 1:00PM, well below flood stage. However, there will be moderate flooding on the Flint at Bainbridge, forecast for 24.6 feet.

WALB's Lydia Jennings will have more information later.

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