UPDATE: Flooding closes Bull Creek Golf Course, Oxbow Creek reopens

UPDATE -- Flooding from recent rains recently closed at least two city golf courses, though one reopened today.

Oxbow Creek Golf Course off South Lumpkin Road had closed for about three days, but was back open this morning.

Bull Creek Golf Course at 7333 Lynch Road remained closed today.

Jeff Ingram at Bull Creek said the course once had five or six greens underwater, and three still were flooded today. The course hopes to have an 18-hole configuration open Wednesday, he said.

UPDATE -- At 9:03 a.m. Tuesday, Georgia Power spokesman Robert Watkins released this update on the Chattahoochee River flooding:

"The COE (Army Corps of Engineers) is going to a release of about 38,000 cfs (cubic feet per second from West Point Dam) in the next hour through most of the day today. They will cut back this afternoon around 5pm central to 30,000 cfs. This, combined with slightly higher than normal local inflows, have caused us to open one more gate at Oliver (6 in total). 

"We understand that even though the river level itself is dropping in many places, Lake Lanier needs to release some more water. Therefore, we expect to be holding at this output for the foreseeable future." 

Here is our last update from Monday:

UPDATE -- Georgia Power spokesman Robert Watkins emailed the Ledger-Enquirer this update at 10:26 p.m. Monday:

"It has been since 7:48 that we opened one more gate at Oliver (5 open) and the storm has basically passed. It does not look to be a repeat of Christmas Eve. There may be more water headed our way from the North part of the river basin, but we still are a long way from the 13 open gates at Christmas."

Here is the original story:

The floodwaters that closed the riverwalks in Columbus and Phenix City last week have receded a bit, but they remained closed Monday while officials prepared for another series of storms.

The Columbus area received more than 9 inches of rain last week. WRBL chief meteorologist Bob Jeswald forecasted another 2-3 inches through Wednesday, with the heaviest rainfall north of Columbus.

Georgia Power's release of excess rainwater from Lake Harding and Lake Oliver last week caused designed flooding of the Chattahoochee RiverWalk and watersheds to allow water to be released from West Point Dam, which is controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers. Donna Newman, the city engineer for Columbus, estimated Monday's water level was around 29 feet above flood stage, down approximately 6 feet from the Christmas Day peak of 35 feet.

Georgia Power opened 13 spillway gates at Lake Oliver last week, increasing the water flow to 81,000 cubic feet per second Christmas Day, said company spokesman Robert Watkins. That's six times more than the maximum output from North Highland Dam when Georgia Power is generating, he said. And to put that figure further in perspective, the flow during peak season at Niagara Falls is 100,000 cfs, according to niagaraparks.com.

Georgia Power doesn't expect to open more spillway gates "at this time," Watkins said. "We plan on maintaining this flow for several days, provided that we don't have a whole lot more water to deal with from these storms."

Watkins emphasized that, unlike West Point Lake, lakes Harding and Oliver are not flood-control bodies of water, so they also are at the mercy of the decisions from the Army Corps of Engineers.

"It takes five hours for the water from Lake West Point to get to Lake Harding," he said, "and another hour or so before we see it in Columbus."

All of which trickles down to Whitewater Express, the outfitter for the Chattahoochee whitewater course. Whitewater Express had to reschedule a weekend full of raft and zip-line trips because of the flooding, said operations manager Will Chambliss.

The whitewater course won't open if the flow is more than 20,000 cubic feet per second, Chambliss said. The ideal high-flow trips are designed for 9,000 to 13,000 cubic feet per second, and the ideal low-flow trips are designed for 4,500 or less, he said. The flow was at around 40,000 cubic feet per second Monday afternoon, Watkins said.

But the zip-line course could reopen Tuesday if the last two steps of the tower on the Phenix City side emerge from the water, Chambliss said.

Despite the barricades at the RiverWalk's access points Monday, curiosity proved more compelling for folks who insisted on getting closer to the flooded river for a better view. Columbus public works director Pat Biegler warned against such judgment.

"You never know when what you're standing on that close to the river might collapse on you," she said.

Collapses already have occurred at two places along the river, Biegler said: a landslide at Bradley Circle off 29th Street and a washout at Rotary Park off Victory Drive.

Although the Pine Mountain Trail reopened, Cooper Creek Park, Rotary Park and the Phenix City Amphitheater remained closed. All streets in Columbus and Phenix City are open, officials said.

City managers Isaiah Hugley of Columbus and Wallace Hunter of Phenix City said it is too early to estimate the cost of damage from the flooding, but they have asked their staffs to start assessments.

"We're being very proactive," said Phenix City Mayor Eddie Lowe. "We had workers out at 5:30 Christmas morning, being sympathetic to the people."

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson posted this update Monday afternoon on Facebook:

"Engineering and Rainwater Management report that they have checked the watershed dams in our jurisdiction and no problems are reported at this time. Public Services is ready with traffic barricades in the event the Police Department reports roads that might need to be closed. A list of "hot spots" around the city that are most prone to flooding was distributed to those in attendance. Metra requested assistance with identifying passable roadways in the event that they are called on to assist with any evacuations of citizens that may be necessary."

Officials continue to urge motorists to not drive through any water of unknown depth. They also are concerned about an increased risk of trees falling because the ground is so saturated and this week's storms could bring winds of 20-30 mph.

The rain should diminish by Thursday, leading to cooler weather for the weekend, Jeswald said.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 5:41 PM with the headline "UPDATE: Flooding closes Bull Creek Golf Course, Oxbow Creek reopens."