March 26, 2021–8:10 a.m.
STAFF REPORTS
Strong storms rolled through Northwest Georgia Thursday, resulting in Tornado Warnings and flooding.
Floyd County E-911 reported over 100 roads that were either closed or had high water on them and numerous calls involving downed power lines, trees in the roadway, trees on houses, and cars stuck in the water.
“We did go under a Tornado Warning and we did have reports of rotation in several areas including Cave Spring and Lindale,” said Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Tim Herrington. “We were fortunate that we did not experience a tornado here. We were in contact with Polk County, who did experience a tornado. We checked to see if they were okay and if they need any assistance. We were prepared to go and help them.”
Herrington said there are five roads closed in the city, 15 closed in the county, and three in Cave spring.
“That’s just what we know from last night,” he stressed. “This morning, that could change and we could wind up with significantly more. We are hoping that maybe either later today or tomorrow we will start seeing a lot of these roads open back up as the water starts to recede.”
There are many other roads with water or debris.
So, drive carefully and remember “Turn around, don’t drown.”
Since Thursday morning, 4.4 inches of rain has been recorded at the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
“We had a lot of rain over a short period of time and that constituted a lot of the flooding issues we saw,” Herrington added. “It made local travel pretty difficult at times. We did have some structure fires that the Rome Fire Department did have to contend with. We did have some water rescues where the fire department and police were able to assist folks who had driven off into some flooded roadways.”