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Record flooding hits Georgia-Tennessee border towns; dozens rescued
The Associated Press reported Thursday that overnight storms produced record flooding on the Toccoa River at McCaysville, Ga., and Copperhill, Tenn., with dozens of swift-water rescues.
Based on reporting by WSVN 7
Wire reporting: (AP, via WSVN 7)
Overnight thunderstorms produced record flooding Thursday along the Toccoa River in the twin towns of McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, according to an Associated Press dispatch carried by WSVN 7 and Local 101.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said as much as 8 to 10 inches of rain fell overnight between Blue Ridge and Ellijay in north Georgia, with runoff swelling rivers that feed the Toccoa and then the Ocoee, where TVA was managing high water at three hydroelectric dams1.
A river gauge in Copperhill showed the Toccoa at a record 18 feet Thursday morning, about 2 feet above the level forecasters treat as catastrophic, the AP reported; Copperhill officials told people to take shelter in either town's City Hall1.
Fannin County Emergency Management Agency in Georgia said at least 57 people were rescued by swift-water teams; Tennessee Emergency Management Authority said it coordinated 68 such rescues1.
McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley told Fox 5 Atlanta that water reached about 6 to 7 feet downtown and that a police car was in the river; he said one firefighter had a minor injury and some residents were treated for suspected hypothermia and shock, with no deaths reported in the AP account1.
Earley said cellphone and power outages complicated the response, the McCaysville water plant was shut down with a boil-water advisory, and downtown had also flooded in August, with a renovated police building reopened last week1. By Thursday afternoon the river had fallen back within its banks, the AP said1.