Dam breach forces dozens from Sandy Springs homes

ATLANTA — Heavy rain caused localized flooding Wednesday night throughout the metro Atlanta area.

Severe Weather Team 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said Atlanta recorded record rainfall for the day on Wednesday at 4.14 inches.

In north Fulton County, storms damaged a dam near Roswell Road, causing a gas leak in Sandy Springs, Sharon Kraun, city spokeswoman, said early Thursday. Part of the walkway along the dam crumbled into the creek below.

The gas leak forced 100 residents from The Falls at Sandy Springs apartments and the Red Cross was assisting those displaced, Kraun said around 2 a.m.

The gas line was shut off, but the buildings remained evacuated at 7 a.m.

The dam runs under an entry road to the apartment complex, and part of the road buckled when the dam was breached.

Some evacuated residents were allowed back in Thursday morning, but others remain unable to access their homes. The Red Cross has set up a shelter at a church on Mount Vernon Highway for displaced residents.

Crews worked Thursday morning to pump water from the creek ahead of more rain in the forecast for Thursday afternoon.

"They actually have one building that sits right next to the creek bed, so if it did wash away, it would affect that one building. And further down, we have another complex with a small pond behind it, which would fill tremendously and potentially flood some of those apartments as well," Sandy Springs Fire Department Assistant Chief Mark Duke said.

A large fallen tree is blocking Gray Road at Church Road in Smyrna.

Floods caused the southbound lane of Interstate 85 to be reduced to one lane at Camp Creek Parkway, cutting off traffic to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Video from Department of Transportation cameras showed emergency workers escorting drivers from their car after it got stuck in the water. Lanes reopened early Thursday morning.

Channel 2's crews were there along Montreat Place where a large tree fell from the weather, blocking the road.

In southeast Atlanta, one person had to be rescued from a Macon Drive home, according to the fire department. In south Fulton County, Brookdale Park in East Point looked more like a lake due to rising waters.

Channel 2 Action News viewer Ashton White sent in a photo of flooding in his Canton neighborhood early Wednesday night.

About 5,000 Georgia Power customers lost electricity from downed power lines, Jacob Hawkins, a spokesman for the utility, said shortly before 10 p.m. Crews were expected to work through the night to restore power, he said.

Severe Weather Team 2 Chief meteorologist Glenn Burns said deep tropical moisture is surging northward in to the southeast from a Bermuda High in the western Atlantic, bringing more rainy weather.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Andrea's path is expected to churn toward the Big Bend area of north Florida Thursday night and then into southeast Georgia and off the coast by Friday.

"The heaviest rain is on the east side of the storm so it looks like the Georgia coast will see the worst of the rain," Burns said.

WSBTV