Drenching rains bring an end to the drought

Sep 26, 2009 (Chattanooga Times Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TRON | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- PDF: Trion inspection reports

PDF: Senate Joint Resolution 306

ON THE WEB

To see an image from NASA's Earth Observatory showing flooding in the southeastern U.S. visit http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40266&src=eoa-iotd

YOUR FLOOD PHOTOS

Send us your photos of the flood and we'll post them online.

Please send them to spotted@timesfreepress.com and place "flood photos" in the subject line.

FLOODING TIPS

--If flooding occurs, get to higher ground. Avoid areas subject to flooding, including dips, low spots, canyons and washes.

--Avoid areas that are already flooded. Do not attempt to cross flowing streams.

--Never drive through flooded roadways.

--If your vehicle is suddenly caught in rising water, leave it immediately and seek higher ground.

--Be especially cautious at night, when it is harder to recognize flood dangers

Source: National Weather Service

SHELTERS

Walker County

Walker County Civic Center on U.S. Highway 27 in Rock Spring

Hamilton County

Brainerd Recreation Center, 1010 N. Moore Road, Chattanooga

Article: Week's rain causes overflowing sewers

Article: Sun relieves gloom after nearly 10 inches of rain

Article: Waterlogged

Article: Trion crews work to clear floodwaters, find body of missing boy

Article: Disaster recovery plans pay off in flood

Article: Cleanup firms, supplies in demand

Article: Walker flood victims deal with aftermath

Article: Several schools close

Video: Flood waters engulf East Ridge

Video: Flooding displaces 500 people

PDF: List of streets closed in East Ridge

Opinion: Meeting a weather challenge

Video: East Ridge flooding

Article: Several schools close in wake of flooding

Video: 23rd Street flooding

Article: Walker residents chased from homes by floods

Article: Rain limits football teams, too

Article: Vest, Cothran win rainy region golf tournament

Article: Rain stops work on road to VW plant

Article: Softball makeups piling up

Article: Rain days may drown out schools' snow days

Article: Area golf courses take a soaking

Slideshow: Rain Floods the Area

Article: TVA opening 7 dams to deal with rainfall

Article: Rescuers still searching for man in culvert

Article: Hundreds evacuated as water tops levee in Chattooga County

Article: Catoosa spring shut down; water conservation asked

Article: Homes being evacuated, some by boat

Article: High waters flood many area roads while number of school systems are closed

Article: Flooding closes Whitfield roads

Article: North Georgia schools wary of weather

Article: Rainfall hinders search for man presumed dead

Article: Man swept away in Sunday's rainfall

Article: Some say they're sick of getting soaked

Article: GPS tops rain, Ensworth

Photo: Tunnel Hill Civil War Reenactment

Article: Saturday downpour

Article: Rain dominates week's forecast

AREA'S WORST FLOODS

Chattanooga's worst flooding occurred in the years before the Tennessee Valley Authority build its system of reservoirs and dams. Here are the highest waters in the city's history:

March, 1867 -- The largest flood in city history crested at 58 feet, 27.9 feet above flood stage, inundating downtown.

March, 1875 -- The Tennessee River crested at 23.5 feet above flood stage.

April, 1886 -- More than 4,000 homeless residents were taken by boats to higher ground at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. The river crested at 22.3 feet above flood stage.

March, 1917 -- The river crested at 17.7 feet above flood stage. Many homes, businesses were inundated.

March, 1973 -- More than 10,000 acres, much of that in Brainerd, were under water after about 10 inches of rain. The river crested at 6.9 feet above flood stage, and damage citywide was estimated at $66.6 million.

May, 2003 -- Three days of thunderstorm runoff damages an estimated 480 buildings in city's worst flooding since 1973.

September, 2009 -- Seven days of showers dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on the area. The South Chickamauga Creek reached 28.5 feet, nearing an all-time high.

Sources: TVA, newspaper archives, catskillarchive.com

The heavy rainfall that burdened some Georgia residents this week was a blessing to others.

People living near lakes and reservoirs that supply residents with water and bolster the tourism industry expressed relief at the water, especially near Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona north of Atlanta.

"We had three years of misery followed by three days of huge relief," said Steve Burge, who lives and owns a business at Lake Lanier, which supplies 3.5 million Georgia residents with water.

A prolonged drought had forced the closure of several marinas and decimated the fishing, kayaking and tourism industries in the area. Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a water supply emergency in North Georgia in October 2007.

Water levels in Lake Lanier, located northeast of Atlanta, rose nearly four feet in the last week. Officials expected the rain to bring the lake to within a couple of feet of full pool, something they didn't expect to see until early 2010, according to lakelanier.com.

Allatoona Lake, located near Cartersville, Ga., also benefited from the heavy rainfall, reaching 11 feet above full pool, according to lakeallatoona.com.

As late as last week, 10 percent of Georgia counties were experiencing abnormally dry conditions. But thanks to a week's worth of heavy rains, most of the state shows no trace of dryness, meteorologists said.

In fact, the rain, which dumped nearly 10 inches of precipitation into the area in a little more than a week, created enough stream flow to replenish the reservoirs, said Edward Martin with the U.S. Geological Services.

Whether the reservoirs' water levels can be sustained depends on the amount of stream flow into them, as well as groundwater in the area, Mr. Martin said.

"If the rainfall had fallen over a longer period of time, more of it would have gone into groundwater rather than what actually happened, which is flow downstream very quickly," he said.

In the Chattanooga area, monthly rainfall is about 7 inches above normal, at 10.6 inches compared to a normal value of 3.5 inches.

For the year, the area has seen about 1.8 more inches of rain than the norm, said David Gaffin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn.

"We're actually not really too much above normal for the year, because we've had that 5- to 6-inch deficit for most of the year," he said.

More rain and some thunderstorms are expected in the area today, though next week should be cooler and drier with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s, Mr. Gaffin said.

Though about 50 percent of Tennessee counties were experiencing drought-like conditions at the start of the year, no counties had abnormally dry conditions as of this week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

To see more of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, or to subscribe to the
newspaper, go to http://www.timesfreepress.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Chattanooga
Times Free Press, Tenn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or
847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group
Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index