Heavy rains flood Dublin’s streets

Heavy rains hit Dublin and Laurens County on Sunday, bringing more water than expected in a short amount of time to cause major flooding and even some vehicle rescues.

From Saturday and Sunday, Dublin received as much as 7 inches of rain. Sunday’s downpour was as Dublin Fire Chief Matthew Cutler described “the most water I’ve seen fall in Dublin at one time, if not ever.”

“I think downtown saw the worst impact,” he said. 

The Ice House was flooded as well as the family life center and parking lot at First African Baptist Church. According to Cutler, they received calls from Highland Avenue and the stream that runs through Stubbs Park was a river at one point.

“I think one of the bridges in Stubbs was turned sideways because there was so much water flowing through there at one point,” Cutler said. “Prince Street had flooding and the area next to Hilburn Park we received a call about a yard that was flooded and Sunny Lane is always underwater when we get a lot of water.”

Around 2:50 p.m., an emergency call went out for a vehicle trapped in water near the China Express.

“The vehicle was stalled and water was enough to disabled that car,” Cutler said. 

Cutler said there were two other incidents where people drove into the water and needed assistance to get out. There was a car that went through the water when it was at its highest in front of the Dublin Police Department. They got stuck and an officer and tow truck employee had to get three children and two adults out, said Dublin Police Chief Keith Moon. 

“Everyone was okay,” he said. “Officers got out and blocked areas to keep people from running through the water as we waited for the water to get on into the river.”

Moon and Cutler want drivers to remember not to cross flooded areas with running water.

“You don’t know if the road is washed out or not,” Moon said.

Cutler agreed.

“If you see water going over a roadway, and you live here and have never seen that before, don’t go through it,” he said. “I have never seen water come across Highway 19 in front of the police department like it did (Sunday). We’ve had a lot of rain come through with hurricanes in the past, but it was spread out over time. Sunday it was all at once.” 

Drone footage showed a flooded area around the police department and into the William’s Body Shop property.

“Looking at that footage, they had property and cars under water,” Cutler said. “That water was flowing behind South Washington and it was like a river coming across there. Thankfully, there were no injuries that I am aware of and no one was injured. I know there was some people who were unable to get out of their houses, but it wasn’t a situation where they needed to get out to safety. They were able to shelter in place until the water receded.” 

This was not a major storm. It was predicted as a typical summer rain that brought more than expected in a short amount of time.

Dublin City Manager Josh Powell did not know how much rain fell and was reaching out to various city departments to find out. He said the storm water infrastructure held up.

“Within 45 minutes to a hour, all of the water was subsided and gone,” he said. “I took a picture around the Farmers Market that was flooded, and within the hour, the water was gone. It just took time to get through the pipes.” 

Powell knew the area was going to get some rain. He did not expect that much in a short period of time.

“That really caused the issues for everybody,” he said. “We had good staff in place to respond and help as best as they could. The infrastructure held out and drained everything out to the river like we hoped it would. It just couldn’t handle quite so much rain so fast. That was the only downfall.” 

By 6 p.m. Sunday, all of the roads were back open, Cutler said.

“We just had a lot of rain at one time,” he said. “I would be fine not seeing anything like that again.” 

The city also had a big water leak on Bellevue across from the Dublin Post Office near a fire hydrant, Powell said. City employees were out until after midnight working on that issue.

Powell rode around to look at some areas that had history of flooding. He took pictures and asked for the public to send him pictures or videos.

“Although the city may not be able to deal or help with every situation, we may be able to use those pictures or videos to help build a case for a good grant application to get some funds to help deal with some issues,” Powell said.