McCAYSVILLE, Ga. — Thunderstorms caused record flooding overnight in twin towns straddling the Georgia-Tennessee border, submerging some buildings to their rooflines on Thursday as emergency responders rescued dozens of people.
The storms dropped heavy rain across a mountainous area that drains into the Toccoa River between McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, causing life-threatening flooding on both sides. The Toccoa then flows into the Ocoee River, where the Tennessee Valley Authority was managing water levels at three of its hydroelectric dams.
As much as 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimeters) fell overnight between the north Georgia towns of Blue Ridge and Ellijay, and runoff from uncontrolled streams swelled the rivers below, according to the TVA.
The Toccoa River reached a record high Thursday morning of 18 feet (5.5 meters), according to a river gauge in Copperhill, where fewer than 500 people live across from McCaysville, home to about 1,000. Copperhill officials urged people to take shelter in either town's City Hall as the river reached 2 feet (0.6 meters) above the level forecasters consider “catastrophic."
“It’s over the rooftops in several different areas. Right here in our downtown business district it’s about 6-7 feet high,” McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley told Fox5 Atlanta. “I have one of my police cars that’s floating down the river right now. Don’t know where it’s at, but it’s somewhere down there.”
Photos and video showed some buildings submerged up to their rooflines as rescue crews in red boats and motorized rafts navigated through deep, rushing water flowing over downtown streets.
Earley told reporters about 40 people were rescued overnight plus five or six more Thursday morning. One firefighter suffered a minor injury and a few residents were treated for suspected hypothermia and shock, “but from what we could tell, everybody looked to be OK.”
The water began receding by late Thursday morning, said Robert Poole, spokesperson for the Fannin County Emergency Management Agency on the Georgia side. But the agency warned people against a false sense of security. “Floodwaters remain extremely dangerous, and conditions can continue to worsen even after the rain has stopped,” it said on social media.
Rescue operations were ongoing, with emergency personnel going house to house and searching overhead with a helicopter and drones, but the effort was complicated by cellphone and power outages, Earley said. The flooding also shut down the McCaysville water treatment plant, prompting a boil water advisory, and it put the city's dump trucks and heavy equipment out of reach.
The quaint downtowns are a destination for scenic railroad rides -- the Blue Ridge Railway on the Georgia side and the Copperhill Special in Tennessee. Both treat tourists to river and mountain views before stopping to sample the restaurants and shops.
This disaster hits particularly hard because McCaysville's downtown was inundated by another flood in August, damaging the police station and post office along with other businesses and residences. The renovated police building reopened just last week.
“Now here we go again,” the chief said. "A lot of people came together, and we’ve been cleaning the town for the past few months. We’re getting ready for Christmas, a lot of McCaysville events, our Christmas parade. So it’s devastating.”
It's crazy to be hit with two such damaging floods in just three months, the chief said. “I don’t know what God is trying to tell me.”