Rising waters cause headaches after four days of rain
Polk County residents had “rain, rain, go away” on their lips through most of last week as localized flooding took hold after four solid days of wet weather.
Several inches of rain were reported in areas around Polk County, but without a official weather station how much rain the area got specifically is still in question. Yet one thing was for sure: at least through Thursday, waters were on the rise in local ditches, streams and creeks around Rockmart and Cedartown indicated at least five inches of rain fell over the four days.
It was much likely more than the totals collected from airports in Paulding, Floyd and Bartow counties.
All that water meant the sunny weekend days ahead of press time that yards will need mowing and gardens weeded, but that might not be as easy as one thinks.
Polk County Extension Coordinator Ricky Ensley said to give larger gardens a few days before getting equipment out for the ground to dry properly, just like local farmers are having to wait to get out and see what they can do to get the pests out of their crops that might have showed up.
What effects heavy rainfall will have on nutrients leeching out of the soil
“We’ll see once we get into dry weather and the effects will usually start showing up,” Ensley said.
He added calls to the Extension Office about an increase in frog and waterbased pests also came in following the heavy rains. He said the best local residents can do watch for the water to drain away.
“They’re just going to have to wait it out,” he said.
Rainfall isn’t just bad for farmers. It also causes issues for public safety officials who are seeking to keep people safe when heavy rainfall impacts travels on local roadways.
Fortunately, this latest round of storms didn’t cause any deaths from untimely accidents.
Polk County Coroner Tony Brazier said no there were no reports of fatalities on the roadway or from ris- ing waters resulted due to the four solid days of rainfall.
He reminded local residents that when heavy rains fall in the area like they did last week, the best thing to do is stay dry and safe indoors as much as possible. Getting into ditches or streams when the forecast turns stormy can lead to drowning due to unexpected increase in water levels. The fast moving run-off can sweep people off their feet and carry them far from where they fell in a matter of minutes.
However police officials did report an increase in collisions on the roadways with conditions remaining wet throughout.
A trio of wrecks were reported over four solid days of rain by the Polk County Police, a single wreck by the Rockmart Police and seven different collisions by the Cedartown Police sent officers out into the rain to cleanup and report on what happened.
Those figures don’t include those incidents worked by the Georgia State Patrol.
School officials also had to look over the forecast and make a decision late last week on whether students would return for their first day of class on Aug. 3. It worked out for officials that rainfall ebbed off and flooding concerns lessened by Thursday afternoon as roadways cleared and water drained away.
Cave Spring Elementary in Floyd County – along with much of the city – found itself dealing with rising waters just north of the county late last week, some of that coming from the upstream increase felt in Cedar Creek as it flows northward.
With a round of dry weather over the weekend, Polk County got a chance to dry out. The forecast at press time called for chances of rain through the start of the weekend and into Thursday and Friday, with temperatures ranging from the mid to upper 80s according to the National Weather Service.
Check online this week for additional updates to the forecast, and how that might also impact early high school sports seasons.