South Chickamauga Creek To Crest At 23.5 Feet
posted September 16, 2004
As of 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, EPB has restored service to over 30,000 customers who lost power during the storm, leaving approximately 8,600 homes and businesses in the area without power.
Nearly 300 electrical workers, including EPB and contract crews have
been working throughout the day to complete restoration following
Hurricane Ivan. They have been able to reduce the number of outages
from 17,000 at 11:30 this morning down to the 8,600.
Crews will continue to work throughout the night to restore electricity to the customers who remain without power. EPB expects to complete the entire restoration process by late Saturday evening "weather permitting."
Just when EPB thought outages were under control, at 10:30 a.m. Friday wind gusts increased from 25 miles per hour to 42 miles per hour across the Tennessee Valley. It resulted in the loss of six substation feeders causing outages to increase to 17,000 from the 6,500 previously reported.
Officials said South Chickamauga Creek could measure 23.5 feet by midnight Friday night.
Don Allen of Hamilton County Emergency Preparedness said, "This is NOT as bad as the Flood in May 2003. The South Chickamauga Creek measured 29.7 feet in May of 2003."
Mr. Allen said late Friday morning, “Presently, the rain has begun to move out of Chattanooga, allowing the water to recede off the roads and highways.”
But some areas were getting more water on Friday afternoon. 23rd Street between Fourth Avenue and Holtzclaw were closed once again because of rising flood waters as well as Rossville Boulevard from 23rd Street and 30th Street.
A number of streets were closed due to high waters. But water levels were going down as the hurricane moved on into Kentucky. Rain ended at mid morning, though some storm clouds still loomed.
There was over six inches of rain recorded at the airport - most of it coming in the late evening Thursday and early morning Friday. Other areas got more than 10 inches.
Flooding was most severe in Rhea County, where several shelters were set up.
Washouts on Highway 64 in Polk County shut down that main artery along the Ocoee River.
As many as 12,000 EPB customers were without power late Thursday night.
Most of the outages Friday morning were at Signal Mountain, Collegedale and Soddy-Daisy, Karlene Claridy said.
The drenched streets were bringing a number of accidents, including one about 7:45 p.m. in which the side of a Chattanooga Police car was bashed in after tangling with other vehicles. That occurred on I-75 near the I-24 split.
Amy Maxwell of county emergency services said at 9:53 p.m. on Thursday:
"Several responder agencies are feeling the wrath of the weather with the overabundance of calls that have been reporting wires down and trees down throughout Hamilton County.
"Strong winds have caused trees and power lines to fall in the areas of Signal Mountain, East Ridge, Dallas Bay and Highway 58 area.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), Chickamauga Creek will measure between 18 to 21 feet by Saturday afternoon. NWS said this should not cause residents to evacuate their homes.
"Emergency Services wants to stress residents in case of downed trees in the City of Chattanooga, call 3-1-1, and in Hamilton County call 855-6100. In case of downed power lines, call EPB at 648-1372."
Almost all area schools were closed.
Customers who may have not yet reported their outage should call
EPB's Customer Service line at 648-1EPB (1372), and use the automated system to report their outage. This automated system is the quickest way for repair crew dispatchers to receive notice of the outage, and it allows EPB to keep its Customer Service telephone lines available for responding to emergency situations, it was stated.
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