Copperhill issues evacuation warnings as Georgia mobilizes flood response

McCaysville under boil-water advisory as Fannin and Gilmer schools close

City officials in Copperhill, Tennessee, issued evacuation warnings for some residents at 3 a.m. ET Thursday as flash flooding affected the community, which lies just across the Toccoa River from McCaysville, Georgia. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday morning that the state’s emergency management agency was leading a “multi-agency response … using both aviation and boat assets, as well as local counties and Tennessee first responders.”

McCaysville was under a boil-water advisory, and school closures were announced Thursday for students at Fannin and Gilmer county schools due to hazardous road conditions.

Game wardens with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were also assisting state and local first responders with search-and-rescue operations in Fannin and Murray counties, county officials said Thursday.

Severe storms brought heavy rain and flash flooding to communities across the Georgia-Tennessee border area late Wednesday and into Thursday morning, forcing dozens of rescues even as hazardous conditions made evacuations and efforts to save people difficult. Flooding made residential streets impassable in Fannin County, Georgia. McCaysville, in north-central Georgia, was deluged with up to five inches of rain by Thursday morning, triggering life-threatening flash flooding, the National Weather Service said.

The weather service issued a flash flood warning for the area until mid-morning Thursday, saying: “This is a particularly dangerous situation. Seek higher ground now! Life threatening flash flooding of low water crossings, small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses.” It added: “Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.”

More than 30 people had been rescued by boats by midmorning, McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley said. One local report later in the morning informally put the number of rescues by water above 50 so far.

“I’ve never seen flooding like this in my life,” Earley said, local TV station WSMV reported, adding that the water in some areas was six to seven feet high. “Anyone who’s willing to help, we’re asking for help,” he added.

Robert Poole, a Fannin County emergency management spokesperson, told WSMV that one rescue effort involved a person who was trapped in his car. “We currently have a crew looking for a vehicle. A gentleman called in, said he was swept away in his car down a creek,” Poole said early Thursday morning, adding: “We lost communications with him. They have, I guess, an address now and the gentleman is still trapped in the vehicle, so they’re trying to make their way to him and safely get him out of the vehicle.”

Poole added: “We … already had our resources kind of stretched thin from several structure fires that happened, kind of just all at one time when the lightning moved in … And then as the rain continued to fall, these water rescues followed the structure fires.”

“Please do not let the rain stopping give you a false sense of security,” the agency said on social media, adding: “Floodwaters remain extremely dangerous, and conditions can continue to worsen even after the rain has stopped.”