People who live in the Heads Creek Reservoir area of Spalding County in Georgia are being evacuated Monday as the dam is at risk of failure, according to officials.
The National Weather Service confirmed the dam has not failed as of noon, but it is vulnerable and anyone downstream should prepare for flooding. The sheriff’s office had already closed roads to traffic entering the area and started evacuating residents around 9 a.m.
Flooding can be expected on roads such as West McIntosh, Vaughan, West Ellis and Moon, the NWS reported. Ga. 16 could also be impacted by the rising water.
“Avoid these areas!” the NWS said.
“This is to ensure the safety of our community as we have experienced 7 inches of rain with more coming,” county Manager Steve Ledbetter said.
Widespread heavy rain and severe storms have continued to pummel areas in central west Georgia and the south side of metro Atlanta after a radar-confirmed tornado decimated parts of Troup County on Sunday.
“In fact, the radar looks almost identical from just 24 hours ago,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Eboni Deon said Monday morning. “It is definitely going to be one of those mornings where if you have any flexibility at all, probably a better idea just to stay put and wait for the storms to move out.”
Storms moved in from the west, with severe thunderstorm watches and warnings popping up across areas southwest of the city as pockets of strong weather passed through. Northern areas stayed mostly dry.
The storms brought heavy rain and lightning, along with damaging winds and hail in some areas. For the city, flash flooding and standing water was the main threat.
The severe storm risk diminished by 10 a.m., and conditions were looking better at noon, meteorologist Brian Monahan said.
Temperatures are going to warm up into the mid-to-upper 70s as the day goes on and the rain clears out.
Tuesday will be quieter weather-wise, with only a 20% chance of rain, according to the forecast. It’ll be partly cloudy Tuesday, and mostly sunny for the next couple of days.
A small chance of showers returns to the forecast by Friday, with more thunderstorms expected to kick off the weekend.
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