HOMER – A Local State of Emergency remains in effect in Banks County while inspectors continue to determine the impact of Friday’s flooding and severe weather on the county and its businesses.
Friday morning, U.S. 441/Ga. 15 flooded between Waffle House and QT south of Interstate 85, as did surrounding businesses.
Banks County Fire/EMS personnel, Banks County Sheriff’s Office deputies and others worked to free those trapped by rising and rushing waters at The Shoppes at Banks Crossing and other nearby establishments.
“We rescued about 30 to 35 people out of different businesses down there,” said Banks County Battalion Chief Scottie Mathis at the scene. “We had about 12 or 13 personnel just down here on this incident.”
Many of Friday’s water rescues were conducted with an unconventional rescue apparatus.
Anthony Couch had gone to the scene in his Kubota tractor to help evacuate his children’s mother from the flooded shopping center when he was asked to help move others out of the rushing waters to safety.
“Luckily, there was a gentleman here on the tractor that assisted us on getting some of the people out that were back there where the water was higher,” Mathis said. “Back there was about three to four feet, in some areas, worth of water.”
Once rescued from the flooded areas, about a dozen people were placed on a Banks County School System bus and taken to the Banks County Recreation Department in Homer, where a shelter and reunification center had been set up.
One of the rescues involved the driver of a tractor-trailer truck stuck in rising waters.
“Back behind the old Pottery building, there were several tractor-trailers down there, but we had one that [the driver] was still inside and when we got the call our dispatchers told us the water was up to his window, and we actually had to use rope and tie off to go in and get him out,” Mathis said.
Couch said he was glad to be able to assist Banks County responders with getting everyone to safety.
“My kids’ mom works over here at Urgent Care and she said that she was stuck and needed some help and I couldn’t get a tow truck in, so I came on the tractor,” Couch said. “Once I got over here and they saw that I was on here, they said, ‘Hey, there’s people that need to be rescued. Can you do it?’ and I said, ‘Yeah’, and ever since that’s what I’ve been doing.”
The 110-horsepower Kubota tractor is four-wheel-drive and performed well under the conditions.
“It handled it just fine,” Couch said.
Banks County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Carissa McFaddin also was at the scene with other deputies and provided an overview of Friday’s weather-related incidents in the county.
“Today’s storms have brought about a number of flooded roadways throughout our county, to include right here at 441 and The Shoppes at Banks Crossing,” said McFaddin, uniform patrol commander. “We have a number of businesses that have reported damages, but also some flooding at we know two local restaurants that have some large amounts of flooding where, it appears, they’re probably going to be shut down for a good bit.”
Those restaurants, Outback and Zaxby’s, had a substantial amount of water inside their structures, according to McFaddin.
Eight people had to be rescued from rising waters at Outback, while three had to be rescued from Zaxby’s, according to Banks County Emergency Management Agency/9-1-1 Director Deidra Moore.
McFaddin said the rushing waters made the stretch of U.S. 441/Ga. 15 impassable for several hours Friday.
Responders were assisted at the scene by personnel from the Georgia Department of Transportation and its Coordinated Highway Assistance and Maintenance Program.
“Right now, we’re unable to pass this area,” McFaddin said at the scene Friday afternoon. “We have re-routed our traffic from the north exit of 149 [Banks Crossing] down to Exit 154, where drivers can gain access to 59 then re-route back onto 441.”
Officials were able to reopen two lanes of U.S. 441/Ga. 15 about 3:20 Friday afternoon, and since have opened all lanes to traffic.
But the U.S. 441/Ga. 15 area wasn’t the only one experiencing issues.
Flooding carved away a section of ground along Steven B. Tanger Boulevard between The Home Depot and Five Guys, also cutting away utilities used by restaurants and businesses.
A City of Commerce water main serving the area was severed, and a Commerce natural gas line was displaced.
Due to the water main break, Commerce has issued a Boil Water Advisory until further notice for all its customers in the Banks Crossing area, also including any customers in the affected area that experienced low water pressure or an outage.
Steven B. Tanger Drive remained closed Friday near the Banks/Jackson County line as Commerce crews worked to repair damaged infrastructure and pending inspection by Banks County road officials.
In all, more than two dozen roads flooded in Banks County, and there were more than a dozen downed trees.
Several emergency personnel on scene said this is the worst flooding they’ve seen in the Banks Crossing area since a dam behind the former location of The Pottery failed nearly 20 years ago.
“Per the commissioners, we will leave the Local State of Emergency [in place] until such time that the road department has finished inspection and environmental health has cleared testing on food/hotel establishments impacted,” Moore said.
Habersham County
In Habersham County, Pitts Park in Clarkesville again was closed due to flooding, which also was a problem on Beaverdam Road at Ga. 197 North just outside Clarkesville, and at Airport Road and Dilmus Court in Baldwin, according to Habersham County Assistant EMA Director Melanie Bellinger.
Crews and emergency personnel responded to trees down with power lines on Miriam Drive and Sherwood Drive in Clarkesville, and north of the dip on Ga. 197 near Batesville.
Additionally, personnel responded to Old River Road off Duncan Bridge Road at the White County line, where there were multiple lines down and multiple poles broken, according to Bellinger.
A mudslide on Gainesville Highway at Cook Street in Alto was cleared.
Weather-related injury wrecks included on involving a tractor-trailer truck and a car on U.S. 441 Bypass at Ga. 365 northbound just outside Cornelia, as well as a vehicle that struck a tree on Chase Road near Keller Road in Mt. Airy, according to Bellinger.
