Heavy rain and wind washed out roads and played havoc with trucks and school buses throughout Oglethorpe County on Tuesday.
At least three tractor-trailer trucks were stuck on both paved and dirt roads near the Timberland Solar Farm in the northeastern part of the county. The Oglethorpe County School System posted on Facebook early Tuesday afternoon that buses weren’t able to transport students on several roads, including New Hope Vesta, Saxon Mattox, Suddeth, Melton and Adam King roads, among others.
County officials placed some of the blame on the washed out and flooded conditions on New Hope Vesta and Saxon Mattox roads on runoff from the Timberland Solar Farm.
"I continue to despise solar farms and all the negative impact they have created for this community," Commission Chair Jay Paul told The Oglethorpe Echo in a text message on Tuesday.
Three roads were “blocked by stuck 18-wheelers trying to deliver” to the solar farm,” Paul wrote. He added that “some” of the truck drivers were stranded for as many as seven hours.
Public works crews worked throughout the day to clear roads.
Oglethorpe County School System officials decided to have school on Tuesday. School Superintendent Beverley Levine said her staff studied the weather and “were in constant contact with our EMS getting weather updates.”
Several area school systems, including Elbert, Madison, Wilkes and Greene counties, were closed.
“The decision was made to have school once we realized that we could get students to and from school safely,” Levine said. “Our transportation department started checking roads mid-morning, and the list of flooded roads was quite extensive, however, by early afternoon, most of the problems had been resolved.”
The county’s Emergency Medical Service building on Athens Road was flooded when the stormwater ditch behind the building was overwhelmed, Paul said.
Wayne Hughes, Oglethorpe County’s coordinator of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), said his rain gauge in Wolfskin measured 3.75 inches in a 24-hour period from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon.
“That’s a lot of rain for a day,” he said.
Jackson Mower, the park manager at Watson Mill Bridge State Park, said the South Fork River would likely crest sometime late Tuesday night.
The storm system that hit Georgia late Monday night and Tuesday dumped several inches of rain across the state and gave way to windy conditions with gusts up to 40 mph in places.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta issued several thunderstorm warnings for Middle and North Georgia. Flash flood and flood warnings, in addition to wind advisories, were issued for large parts of the state.
This week’s rainfall was similar to last year’s rainy start. Oglethorpe County received 10.96 inches of rain by the end of February last year, the highest total since 2012.
“Shout out to the EMS, county roads department and our transportation department for keeping us updated on the road conditions (Tuesday),” Levine said. “A huge thanks to our bus drivers who patiently picked up students in the rain (Tuesday) morning and delivered students home safely.”