MCCAYSVILLE, Ga. — A state of emergency has been declared in McCaysville, after flash flooding inundated dozens of homes and businesses in the north Georgia Mountains tourist town near the Tennessee border.
“Obviously, it’s going to take weeks, if not months, to clean up. Some of the residents outside the city limits have been displaced, as far as roads washed out,” McCaysville Police Chief Mike Early told Channel 2’s Tom Regan.
Fire and police had to rescue 19 people from creek and riverside homes surrounded by highwater.
Around 50 homes and businesses were damaged when 7 inches of rain fell overnight Saturday into Sunday.
The city’s water treatment plant also was damaged.
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A boil water advisory is in effect. On Monday, a tractor trailer truck from the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned utility corporation, delivered thousands of water bottles to city officials.
“Obviously, our biggest concern right now is trying to get water to our residents,” said Early.
Businesses owners spent the day mopping up their property and throwing away merchandise and food ruined by flood waters.
“It’s not a good day when you see your livelihood washed away,” said Rum Cake Lady Restaurant owner David Correa.
Correa says high water damaged their walk-in freezer. Now, he has to throw away thousands of dollars of spoiled food.
“We have to overcome it, but God will not give you anything you can’t handle,” said Correa.
The owner of Cuckoo’s Nest Antiques was forced to throw out a dumpster full of furniture, antiques and collectibles damaged by flood waters.
“All my revenue is gone. Most of the merchandise is gone. Ten years up in smoke,” said shop owner Anne Williams.
City officials say the flooding was compounded by inadequate drainage around a highway construction project just outside the downtown area.
“A lot of construction material was washed down into the downtown business district. It stopped up storm drains, causing flooding,” said Early.
But a Georgia Department of Transportation representative disputed that claim in an email response to Channel 2 Action News:
On Saturday night, an overwhelming storm system moved through Fannin County dropping more than seven inches of rain in eight hours, resulting in Flash Flood conditions. It’s the type of storm that has less than a 1% chance of impacting this area on any given year. No project or drainage system is built to handle a storm cell of this magnitude or the resulting flash flooding that occurred. The storm overwhelmed drainage systems throughout the county and swept debris and sediment from many locations. GDOT and contracted crews worked to efficiently recover these systems and SR 5 specifically was reopened after 20 hours of cleanup. We want to thank everyone who assisted in the clean-up and assure this community that we will look into mitigation strategies in the future.
— Georgia Department of Transportation
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