GDOT: ‘Perfect Storm’ Clogged Atlanta Drains, Caused Floods
The Georgia Department of Transportation says yesterday’s flooding of the downtown connector was caused by what could be called the “perfect storm.”
Transportation department officials say two or more inches of rain fell on the connector in a sudden downpour. They got that estimate from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. GDOT also says there were winds of up to 50 miles per hour.
“What happened was the wind on top of the rain caused debris to roll onto our storm drains, and it did cause the flood,” says GDOT spokeswoman Analise Baker Wilson.
Wilson says crews had done regular maintenance on the storm drains just a few days earlier.
“When we cleared the storm drains Thursday there wasn’t a huge amount of debris for us to come back and clean the drains,” says Wilson.
According to the National Weather Service, downtown Atlanta and most areas of the metro area inside the perimeter received less than an inch of rain on Sunday. Forecasters do warn however that heavy downpours could occur throughout Georgia this week and bring more flooding – especially because the ground is already saturated.
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