Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. sheets of rain blown sideways by winds gusting to 24 miles per hour reminded this writer of Summer Monsoon rains in Vietnam. Compared to temperatures near or slightly above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in previous weeks, the low of 73 degrees and blustery wet conditions briefly created misty visions of a crackling fire in the fireplace. Category one Hurricane Debby had been downgraded to a tropical storm and was slow dancing northeast from Steinhatchee, Florida, toward Savannah, Georgia. Weather forecasters were predicting as much as 16 inches in a wide arc around Savannah that ran from Charleston, South Carolina, to near Valdosta. Monday morning, NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) was warning that the Ohoopee would crest at 22 feet (flood stage is 11 feet). By Tuesday morning, that warning had been revised to 27.6 feet, which would occur around 7 a.m. Wednesday, and a code red alert warned people to seek shelter outside of the Ohoopee basin because dangerous waters would be rising very fast.
To get a feeling for how high 27.6 feet would be, the Freshet of 1925, which was 28.4 feet on the Ohoopee, pushed river water all the way from Cowford Bridge to within an estimated 100 yards of the historic MacArthur House on Hwy 178, according to Mr. Dwight MacArthur. Years later he would recall looking at river water in his back yard from the rear door of his kitchen.
Pam Waters maintains the official weather station for Tattnall County, and she recorded 8.75 inches in a 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. Tuesday, August 6, 2024. She is virtually certain that this is a record for her over 20 years of maintaining Tattnall rainfall records.
By 5:32 p.m. on Monday, the National Weather Service was warning of possible flash floods throughout Tattnall County. Water was reported across 15 roads within Tattnall, including Hwy. 169 and Merriell Mike Durrence Road, Hwy. 23 near Tattnall County High School, and Coleman Bridge Road. Tattnall County Roads Superintendent Lynn Cribbs stated he had crews working in impacted areas by mid-afternoon to post signs warning motorists of water across roads and officially closing roads.
“They will probably be out all night,” he said. “Maybe we can get to work on some roads when the storm moves out, but that will depend on the weather and the condition of the road. There’s water everywhere!”
Tuesday morning Lynn’s voice sounded like he had been on an U.S. Army all-night forced march.
“In my 14 years with the county, this is the worst I have ever seen,” he said. “We have closed all the dirt roads in the county and we have washouts on several paved highways like the Baker Road. We have used every sign and barrier we have and are waiting for the State Highway Department to deliver more. I know that some of the problem roads like W.J. Akins north of Reidsville will have water running around the pipes, and it may be washed out already. We just haven’t got there yet to see how bad it is. It is unreal.”
“We have some FEMA money to use for upgrading some of those areas that traditionally wash out, and we have the pipes ordered but they haven’t come in, so the FEMA money won’t help us right now.”
When asked out about a timeline on repairs, he was quick to respond. “I have no idea. First you can’t plow mud, but even worse, the dirt is gone in most of those washouts. More will have to be hauled in. We will do the best we can as soon as we can. I can tell you this. It is one big mess. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Joe Sikes of Canoochee EMC said Tuesday that the worst outage was about 3000 users and had been fixed. But he added, “The problem now is the areas where the outages are located. So many roads are out and we can’t get to them. Now we are making decisions on getting to the problem and actually climbing the pole to make a repair.”
In one case, Georgia Power apparently had to use a boat to get to an outage. The problem will probably get worse as water rises. There will probably be more outages due to that high water and it may be difficult to access those outages.
On a personal note, my glass rain gauge on Dennis Oliver Road east of Reidsville showed approximately seven and five eighths inches for the 24-hour period. However, the gauge ran over the limit of six inches sometime during the heavy rain. I poured it out in a lull between showers about 8 p.m. Monday, and on Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., it had an additional one and five eighths inches inside. My electronic gauge was indicating just over 8 inches. No doubt winds gusting up to 25 mph impacted the accuracy of rain gauges throughout the county as rain was often falling horizontally.
At 9 a.m. Tuesday, radar showed rain to be spotty and light over most of Tattnall County. Fortunately, the heavy rains had slowed on Monday after midnight, and by 10:30 p.m. Tuesday the warning was reduced to a cresting level of 20.3 feet on 8 a.m. Wednesday.
At midday Tuesday, Tropical Storm Debby was just southwest of Savannah, and much of the Atlantic moisture seemed to be falling on South Carolina. Some forecasting models were predicting that as much as 30 inches could fall on coastal Carolina. But local flooding, especially on the Ohoopee Rive, is not over. Tattnall County Emergency Management officials were repeating warnings to residents on or near the Ohoopee to seek higher ground. Dangerous high water is still coming.
Throughout Tattnall County, as of noon Tuesday, ditches are filled and some yards are completely covered in water. Quite a few trees have been uprooted, whether by winds Monday night or the heavy sodden ground creating the opportunity for the tree to topple. In Glennville, on Tuesday morning, entering Caswell Street from Hwy. 301 N. was closed to traffic, and the Glennville Police Dept. and the EMS Station front this section of Caswell.
