Columbus preparing for heavy rain, potential flooding due to Hurricane Sally
Columbus officials are preparing for heavy rain and potential flooding in the area due to Hurricane Sally.
The slow-moving hurricane, now a Category 1, is expected to make landfall Wednesday near the Mississippi-Alabama line, according to the Sun Herald. Where it will come onshore is still in question, but the storm track continues to track east.
Muscogee, Chattahoochee and Marion counties are under a flash flood watch from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning, the NWS said at 3:24 p.m. Tuesday.
“(Flooding) is not a major concern at this point,” Columbus Consolidated Government Director of Engineering Donna Newman said Tuesday afternoon. “We’re just trying to anticipate what we can based on previous experience.”
The portion of the Chattahoochee River around Columbus is unique, according to Newman, in that it is affected by what happens north of the city.
While the Riverwalk area in uptown is designed to flood, bodies of water in the “city proper,” such as creeks, would likely be more impacted by the heavy rainfall.
High winds could also cause issues, with trees or limbs falling, according to Newman.
“It’s not uncommon with this type of event that you might have some (traffic) signals that are torn down by the wind or twisted, or no longer visible,” Newman said. “Of course, there are power outages.”
Signal crews are on call in the event signals are lost due to high winds, she said.
Latest forecast
Isolated thunderstorms and potential flooding are possible beginning Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service’s Peachtree City office, and should continue into Thursday and Friday.
Main hazards, according to the NWS’ 5:15 a.m. Tuesday hazardous weather outlook, are occasional lightning and local heavy rainfall from 4 to 6 inches. Some areas could see up to 8 inches of rain.
No hazardous weather is expected Saturday through Monday at this time.
“Since we are thinking that the heavy rain is going to be the primary impact for (Columbus), any local flood concerns are going to be something that could linger into Friday and maybe even beyond, as far as the (Chattahoochee) River impacts go,” NWS forecaster Adam Baker said.
Resources for Hurricane Sally
Georgia Power customers can find outage alerts and an outage map at georgiapower.com/storm. The Georgia Power mobile app for Apple and Android devices allows users to access storm and outage info.
Visit the Georgia Power storm page for information on how to build a family emergency plan and emergency supply kit.
Follow @GeorgiaPower on Twitter for storm tips, outage updates, customer service and more.
