Heavy rain causes 5 major sewage spills in DeKalb County

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County workers are putting up signs and spreading lime after five major sewage spills occurred overnight due to heavy rain.

Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was there as workers worked to clean the mess up Tuesday morning in Decatur and Stone Mountain.

They were putting up signs about the sewage spills and putting down lime to soak up the sludge.

The five major spills total 10,000 gallons of sewage or more.

Four of the major spills are in or around Decatur, where many people have had problems with them before.

The sewage spills are in the 300 block of Brookfield Lane in Decatur, the 2000 block of Miriam Lane in Decatur, the 100 block of Hood Circle in Decatur, the 1600 block of Melanie Court in Decatur and the 1400 block of Sowell Estate in Stone Mountain.

Sewage leaked into one home’s basement and also directly into water sources like Shoal Creek.

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DeKalb County reported 22 major sewage spills from the beginning of the year through October, but this was five in one day.

Heavy rain was blamed for all of them.

Gehlbach spoke with the head of a local activist group who says she was not surprised this happened because of older pipes and limited capacity.

"The pipes are old, they leak and when it rains like it does. they fill up," Echols said.

She thinks the county can do more to keep it from happening again.

“We can’t keep blaming it on the weather, it’s going to rain. So at some point, you have to fix the problem that happens when it rains, and that’s what the county just hasn’t done,” Jackie Echols, president of South River Watershed Alliance, said.

Gehlbach reached out to county officials and was told they will get back to him with a response.

As much as 4 inches of rain fell Monday afternoon and evening in parts of north Georgia.

On Channel 2 Action News at 4, Monahan showed us the impact of Monday's heavy rain.

The Etowah River in Bartow County has risen to the point where signs are half-submerged in water.

Another area affected by flooding was the Bishops Mill neighborhood in Cartersville.

When Monahan went back to visit Tuesday, the water was gone and one resident said clogged storm drains were cleared overnight.

Cox Media Group