‘They saved the dam’: Relief rises as water drops in Screven County
NEWINGTON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - An alert was lifted for Screven County neighbors of a Tropical Storm Debby’s deluge.
By Late Friday afternoon, crews had reopened Eureka Road – which runs atop the dam – but only to residents, including several who’ve been trapped on the other side of the dead-end road.
It’s a sign that as floodwaters recede, life is getting just a little closer to normal in a county plagued by mud and muck all week.
It must be a relief to people living around the Eureka Road dam near Newington. They were put on alert and urged to evacuate early Thursday when the dam started crumbling under an onslaught of double-digit rain totals.
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But on Friday afternoon, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency lifted the alert after crews had worked day and night to repair the dam. Truck after truck brought in dirt to fill the gaps in the dam for two days straight.
The crews were finally able to take a break late Thursday night because they were in a good spot.
They came back Friday morning at about 7 a.m. to start again and got three more trucks of dirt down.
Soon afterward, the dam was found to be safe.
“They were working through the night for the last couple of days,” said Terry Bloom, who lives on Eureka Road. “They saved the dam – that was the main thing.”
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One local resident showed us his yard, which was just an extension of the lake. He has a bridge that normally is above water, but only an elevated end of it was visible Friday.
One neighbor said he’d lived in his house for 30 years and had been coming to the area for more than 50 years.
But he’d never seen anything like this week.
He said the dam was breached once before but was never in danger of washing out.
Much of Screven County remains a mess after the flooding.
Screven County Emergency Management Agency officials went up in a helicopter on Friday to see it.
They said something of this scale is nothing they’ve seen before, and the biggest issue is getting resources and supplies to fix the problems.
“There’s nothing to prepare for this,” said Harvey Cryder, EMA director. “Our biggest complaint in our county is dirt roads, and of course they wash out. ... You have issues with dirt roads, and we do the best we can to keep them up.”
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This flooding was so bad that major paved roads washed out.
“You can’t prepare for that,” he said.
County officials are working to get grant money to help with the recovery. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn’t gotten involved in the county yet, it’s likely to.
Cryder noted that all state highways in the county had reopened by Friday afternoon.
As for the rest of the roads, the Georgia Department of Transportation aims to make them able by Aug. 15.
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Lots of homeowners are still reeling from the impact of record flooding in their area, which can be extremely expensive with or without insurance.
Something that’s not helping is that people are moving and taking the orange barrels that are used for blocking roadways. Officials implore people not to do this.
Among the closures is a bridge on Old Creek Road.
Local residents said Friday the bridge was covered with water two days earlier. And on Thursday, you could lean over the side and touch the water.
By Friday, the water had gone down, but state inspectors still needed to come out and make sure the bridge was safe.
Officials say reporting any home damage to the Screven County Emergency Management Agency is crucial for timely and effective disaster response. People need to email their name, phone number, address and description of damage to their property as well as pictures or videos. Send them to [email protected].
The damage wasn’t just to possessions but also to livelihoods. The flooding wiped out some crops, including peanuts in Screven County, according to state agriculture officials.
Ga. Gov. Brian Kemp tours damage from Tropical Storm Debby
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday flew over coastal damage from Tropical Storm Debby and gave an update on the state’s response to the storm that brought more rain to the region than just about anyone can .
Although much of the high water was gone by Friday, the situation was dire when it was happening.
The Georgia National Guard even sent in troops to help after Gov. Brian Kemp activated about 300 soldiers and airmen across the state.
In addition to Screven County, they helped in Bulloch, Pierce and Wayne counties with missions from clearing and repairing roads to transporting emergency supplies with high-water vehicles.
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