State officials are preparing to release water out of Lake Rabun due to flooding in the lake in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene.
Speaking at a press conference Friday morning, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said people living downstream from the water release are being evacuated in advance of the release.
"If they don't leave now, they're going to be stuck there for at least a day or multiple hours," Kemp said.
Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Chris Stallings said the flooding was so intense, it is threatening to cause a failure of the Mathis Dam keeping the waters of Lake Rabun from the Tallulah Gorge.
"We've got to get water out," Stallings said. "There's a pretty large community (downstream of the lake) and everybody's been notified that if you don't evacuate, we don't expect your homes to be flooded, however, the roads and bridges that you would need to access to leave those communities will be overtopped."
Rabun County has been the hardest-hit community in Northeast Georgia from Helene. As of noon Friday, more than 12,000 customers in the county were still without power, more than any other county in the region.
Kemp and Stallings did not say how long the water release would last, saying that determination would be made by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
