Adam Nation
The Oglethorpe County Public Works department is nearly finished with repairs after the heavy rains last week.
Adam Nation, the public works director, said 15 trees were down throughout the county after the storm on Jan. 9. He added that gravel had washed off dirt roads in several places, but that no major damage was done.
“We were fortunate in some regards,” said Jay Paul, chairman of the Board of Commissioners. “We didn’t totally lose any paved roads, but it just had us all on edge and busy throughout the day — but say, ‘Knock on wood,’ because it probably could’ve been worse.”
Much of the damage was focused on roads in the northeastern part of the county, but other roads, such as Melton, Suddeth and Adam King, were affected.
Nearly 5 inches of rain fell in parts of the county, according to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), including a high of 4.74 inches in Smithonia and 4.40 inches in The Glade.
The resulting flooding stranded tractor-trailers on roads and hampered school buses taking students home that afternoon.
Paul said the public works team did an excellent job with its prompt responses to the damage caused by the storm. He didn’t have a figure of how much the repairs cost the county.
During storms and similar scenarios, certain 911 dispatch calls are transferred to Nation, who sends instructions to his teams. If they don’t have enough hands to answer the calls, Nation said he asks for help from fire departments.
“Unfortunately, practice makes perfect,” Paul said. “We just respond when we get the notifications, and go out and deal with them as quickly as we can. We don’t go out and ‘simulate’ these scenarios, because it’s hard to simulate what Mother Nature’s going to throw at you sometimes. We just try to do the best we can once it happens.”
Nation said the repairs were limited after the storm. The public works department had to re-establish pipes and trim trees, with the final step being the replacement of gravel on several dirt roads.
“I’d say we’re pretty much done with the main things that need to be repaired,” Nation said. “It’ll probably take us about a month to make the rounds on all the dirt roads to get those back in shape, but they’re still in pretty good shape.”
Nation said he expected a weather issue early this year, as Oglethorpe County typically has a large rain event in late December or early January.
Last year, the county received 10.96 inches of rain by the end of February. The damage included a washed out culvert in the Hawk’s Landing neighborhood that a public works crew replaced.
Additionally, Nation said he collaborates with the county’s emergency services to prepare for inclement weather whenever the National Weather Service sends a briefing about potential storms.
“I usually try to get with emergency services, and we’ll listen to all the briefings,” Nation said. “Just kind of get prepared, get all our chainsaws ready and all our tractors ready, and all the trucks fueled up. We kind of have a good idea of what’s coming before it even gets here, so we’re always prepared.”