Chatsworth Highway, the main route west out of Ellijay, is barricaded and closed after floodwaters along Cox Creek tore away pavement overnight and ruptured the water main buried under it, and the Ellijay-Gilmer County Water & Sewerage Authority issued a boil-water advisory at 6 a.m. Wednesday covering a long list of streets in the New Hope pressure zone. Crews patched the broken main around 5:30 a.m. The road stayed shut. The Gilmer County Sheriff's Office estimated repairs on Hwy. 52 West could take roughly three to four days.
A line of storms stalled over the county Tuesday night into Wednesday, July 29. A Flash Flood Warning went out at 10:25 p.m. The downtown Ellijay gauge recorded 3.8 inches of rain in a single hour, and the official storm total at the Gilmer County Emergency Operations Center came to 3.94 inches, according to the sheriff's office.
No injuries have been reported.
Roads: one highway out, one back road gone
Gates Chapel Road at Zion Hill Road was described by the sheriff's office as completely washed out. That is not a lane closure. That is missing roadbed, and drivers who normally cut through there need another way around.
Power outages peaked near 3,800 customers as the storm moved through. At a local nursing home, water got inside the building and roughly 60 residents were moved to a safe shelter, according to local media reports and information from the sheriff's office.
If you have to be out, treat standing water as deeper and faster than it looks, and do not drive around barricades. Culverts undercut in a flood like this one often fail hours after the rain stops.
Who has to boil water
The break drained storage and dropped pressure across the New Hope pressure zone. Without positive pressure in the lines, the authority said, microbial contamination is possible, so anyone in the affected area who lost pressure should use boiled or bottled water until further notice.
The advisory covers:
- Vista Drive; Westwood Drive and branch roads
- Old Tails Creek Road west of Westwood Drive
- Roberts Ridge Road and branch roads
- Craigtown Road and branch roads
- Hwy. 52 West, west of Hancock Drive, and branch roads
- New Hope Road and branch roads
- Tower Road and branch roads
- Village Park Drive
- Hwy. 282 from Courier Street west to Pleasant Grove Church
- Evans Road, Mountainview Drive, Summit Drive and branch roads
Bring tap water to a rolling boil for one full minute, then let it cool. Use boiled or bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, making ice, cooking and mixing baby formula. Washing clothes and dishes can continue as normal. When the advisory is lifted, run every faucet in the house for at least two minutes before you drink from it.
Questions go to the water authority at (706) 276-2202, and updates are posted at egcwsa.com.
What is still unknown
Officials have not said how long testing will take, and the advisory stays in place until crews finish sampling and confirm the water is safe. The authority has not confirmed whether any contamination actually occurred. There is also no reopening time for Chatsworth Highway beyond the sheriff's three-to-four-day estimate, which depends on how much of the roadbed under the pavement has to be rebuilt after the creek got under it.
The timing is tight for families. Gilmer County Schools is scheduled to start classes Monday, Aug. 3, which means bus routes on the west side of the county are being planned around damage that has not been repaired yet. Any changes to routes or start times would come from the district. Residents who see a new washout, a slumping shoulder or a missing culvert should report it rather than assume someone has already called it in.
Keep up with closures and advisories at Ellijay Georgia Community Website, and if your road or your water is affected, tell your neighbors what you are seeing and join the conversation in our Community Forum. For more coverage as this plays out, read more alerts and public safety stories from Gilmer County.
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