Gleaning Facebook: Rain Waters

This picture is actually from December 28, 2018. 

Terrell Shaw

Lillian Shaw Brannon Shaw y'all remember this spot...

Warren Blackwell
That's a lot of water

Terrell Shaw
Every time I see Desoto Falls I think of an MYF retreat during the sixties that, I think, was in a cabin overlooking the valley below the falls... do any of my Trinity old geezer friends remember that better than I do?

Frank Norris
I've never seen it that full/furious before.

Clare Lacey Gilliland
Turbulent

Anita Stewart
this is amazing....never seen DeSoto this vicious.

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Rome Sweet Wet Home -- look quick; you might see our backyard.

Cindy Smith

Wow! That’s a LOT of water

Terrell Shaw
It surely is.

Cindy Smith
Terrell Shaw I’ve seen it this high before but it’s been a long time ago.

Terrell Shaw
Cindy Smith yes, I have too... but there’s still more rain coming, right? It was on my mind so much last night that I dreamed the city announced that the levees might be breached... and Sheila and I, in my dream, were busily bringing all our downstairs stuff upstairs! 

Cindy Smith
Terrell Shaw surely hope you weren’t having a premonition! And yes, it’s supposed to rain until Sunday!

Renata Carlin
We are having the same problem here. My bottom half of the backyard is a big soggy sponge with standing water in the tree wells. We should begin a drying out spell starting tomorrow. As for you, I hope the levee doesn't break!

Gleaning Facebook: Mother Nature Has Impeccable Timing

This op-ed from Chad Johnfroe was printed in the Rome News Tribune today,  January 15, 2016--

Mother Nature has impeccable timing.

Just a couple of weeks before newly elected Rome city commissioners were to be sworn in, some eight inches of rain fell on Rome and North Georgia, raising Rome’s three rivers to heights not seen since the 1990s.

It was as if she was casting her own ballot on the issue that motivated Rome voters in the November election, leading to the removal of one long-time city commissioner and the election of two new commissioners.

That issue, of course, is whether or not a large tract of city-owned floodplain and wetlands surrounding Burwell Creek and adjacent to Riverside Parkway should be filled and developed into a strip mall dubbed “CityCenter.”

The rain that fell lifted the Oostanaula River to nearly 30 feet — the biggest flood since March 1990. Floodwater spilled out of the river’s banks, covering Ridge Ferry Park, and creeping into the fields, pastures and yards of property owners in low-lying areas. Thankfully, there was limited serious property damage.

 If not for Rome’s levee system and the dams at Carters and Allatoona lakes, it could have been much worse.

As for the city’s Burwell Creek property, it filled as did the rest of the area’s still undeveloped floodplain. If not for these places, it could have been much worse.

How much water does the 50 acres of floodplain adjacent to Burwell Creek hold? Lots! During the peak of the flood, portions of the proposed CityCenter development site were under at least 14 feet of water. By conservative estimates, the area held more than 130 million gallons of water at that flood level — enough to fill nearly 200 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

And, this flood was by no means the “big one.” During Rome’s worst flood on record, the Oostanaula topped out at 40 feet, and even since the construction of Carters Dam upstream in 1977, the Oostanaula has reached above 30 feet three times.

In fact, the Burwell Creek floodplain begins filling at river elevations of just 16 feet, a high water mark that happens regularly. Since 2009, the Burwell Creek floodplain has filled on at least 50 occasions.

Remember, this is the very place hometown developers Ledbetter Properties want to build a strip mall. To keep their retail center dry, they’ll have to fill those 50 acres with at least 20 feet of dirt. Once built, floodwater will instead be routed to giant holding ponds adjacent to the retail center

Will these holding ponds protect us during the “big one?” if engineered on a grand scale correctly, presumably so.

However, the better question to ask is: Should the city support and even finance this engineering when it could preserve the property and the important services it provides that were so clearly illustrated during the “Holiday Flood of 2015.”

In November, Rome voters sent a clear message to the City Commission with more than 60 percent of the vote cast in support of preserving this land. An online poll performed by this newspaper following the election showed 85 percent support for preserving “Rome’s Central Park.” Even developers that last September were considering building an apartment complex overlooking Burwell Creek have now cast their lot elsewhere.

Though Mother Nature has cast her vote, she doesn’t have the final say. Only the Rome City Commission can prevent the destruction of the city’s Burwell Creek floodplain and wetlands. If the election results didn’t speak to them, perhaps the flood did.

Chad M. Johnfroe is president of the Coosa River Basin Initiative board of directors.

Gleaning Facebook: Burwell Wetlands In the Flood

From CRBI:

[Click picture for video]

Join CRBI this Friday, Jan. 1, at 1 p.m. for an exploration of the Burwell Creek wetlands and floodplain, some 60-acres of city-owned property that is slated for development into a regional shopping center. Recent high water has filled the proposed building site with 1 to 12 feet for water, and the best way to explore it now is via canoe or kayak. When you've paddled this land, you'll ask yourself: "who in their right mind would build a shopping center on this property?" This trip is free and open to the public. To reserve a canoe or kayak, e-mail Joe Cook at jcook@coosa.org Meet at the Burwell Creek parking area for Ridge Ferry Park at the intersection of Turner McCall Blvd. and Riverside Parkway (behind Starbuck's).

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Virtually all of the Burwell Creek Natural Area is flooded. Today would have been a great day to film it from a kayak, and yet I, exercising a bit too much caution, foolishly discouraged that. Now that I’ve gotten out and seen it for myself, I repent.

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Jim Ware's Post:

"Today I got the full scope of Burwell Creek Wetlands importance... as pretty as it may be down in there, regardless of the obvious educational or recreational uses...it is a tool and its main use is and should be to hold flood waters. " - Jim Ware

 

leaning Facebook: DeSoto Falls in the flood & Lights Out

  DeSoto Falls near Mentone, AL after Flooding Rains

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As we were driving home from mMother's house off Huffacre every light in sight went iff. We didn't see anything but car lights and emergency lights till we got to Summerville Park. A pretty big outage.

David Matheny
Sounds Wide Spread...hope a Transmission Area didn't get Flooded.

Terrell Shaw
Just called Mother -- her power is back on so maybe it is not so bad.

Ruthy Countryman
Mt. Berry Sq. Mall was w/out power, too, but we're OK up here near Armuchee H.S.

Kathy Jones
It was out in Stonebridge but came back on

Dana Jordan Alexander
Was out off of warren by airport in Armuchee but came back on.

Amber Clark Ware
We live on Burnett Ferry...it was spooky how dark it went!! Thank goodness the power was only out about 20-30 minutes.

Jann Heaton Skeen
It was out around kmart also. Weird....

Austin Matthews
Was out in armuchee for a few minutes also. Sounds like Rome went dark for a little while!

Mary Nisbet Asbury
It was off in Garden Lakes for a few minutes

Charlie Hehn
I was in Garden Lakes at the time. Black as a boot.

Bitsy Burton
We were eating at Los Portales when the power went out, they said we would have to pay cash because the could not run a credit card. We were saved when the power came back on. Have you ever eaten dinner by cell phone light?

Stacy Cates
They also went off in my whole neighborhood behind GA State Patrol.