After the weekend storms, numerous roads remain washed out or impassable in the rural areas of the Coastal Empire, such as Bulloch, Tattnall, and Candler counties in Georgia.
During a visit to Candler County on Monday, it was evident that several dirt roads were flooded with water reaching ankle depth, and there was noticeable infrastructure damage in various locations.
“It’s insane,” remarked Candler County resident Matt Brown. “It resembles the impact of Hurricane Helene. The damage to the ponds, roads, and bridges is notable. It’s comparable to that event—perhaps not quite as severe overall, but in this particular area, it’s been just as bad, if not worse.”
When asked about the flooding Candler County Sheriff John Miles said, “We’ve seen between five and ten inches of rain, and what that did was impact a lot of our county roads. We had some roads that were just muddy, and we had some roads that were almost completely washed out.”
Some of the most severe flooding was in Metter on Oak Tree and Wagon Wheel Roads.
However, in Claxton, Hillview Road had even larger problems than flooding.
The road was split in two.
“The bridge around the corner got taken out yesterday,” Brown said. “The hurricane blew it out, and it just got fixed like three weeks ago. It blew it right back out.”
The aftereffects of the weekend rainfall also caused at least one incident on the roads, according to police.
“A vehicle was traveling in an area where they shouldn’t have been,” Miles said. “They ran into the flood waters on the dirt road that washed out. That person was also DUI, which was also a very bad combination.”
With the conditions still hazardous, residents are advised to be cautious and use their best judgement to avoid dangerous situations.
“We were checking on some other property that we have over here, and it was completely flooded over the top. We couldn’t even access it, ” Brown said. “It’s a little unnerving for sure.”
