Bulloch County Public Safety and Emergency Management issued an urgent notice to area residents late Tuesday morning that both dams on Simmons Pond, the large recreational pond and historical mill pond on Georgia Highway 46 east of Nevils, had breached.

“All residents near the pond or downstream are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to seek shelter away from this area – and avoid this portion of Hwy 46 – as the water is expected to rise further before it begins to drop,” states the notice on the ‘Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA’ page on Facebook.

A call to Bulloch County EMA Director Corey Kemp found him busy in the field, but he had county commissioners Communications Director Dal Cannady call the Herald. The county government cannot close Highway 46 where it is a state route, he noted. Meanwhile, Bulloch County’s road crews and Sheriff’s Office personnel were busy with a growing list of county road closures, a partial form of which appears below.

“We’re asking folks to get out of that area,” Cannady said. “Technically it’s not mandatory, but we’re strongly asking people to evacuate.”

As Statesboro Herald photojournalist Scott Bryant reported from the scene, the earthen dam that protects Highway 46 from Simmons Pond was breached and water is flowing into Reed Branch.  

After motorists ignored signs not to cross the Highway 46 bridge that spans Reed Branch off Simmons Pond, Mitch Johnson with Bulloch County Public Works said the county brought in dump trucks of sand to effectively block the bridge on both sides of Highway 46 so no vehicles could cross the bridge in either direction.

Johnson said the county is concerned that as more rain falls Tuesday afternoon, a tree that fell in the spillway may actually be swept into the bridge and possible cause significant damage.

Over 9” rainfall

This came as Tropical Storm Debby, the former hurricane, hovered along the Atlantic coast after dumping rains predicted to be “historic” in volume while crossing northern Florida and southern Georgia from the Gulf. And a further wave of rain from the slow but widespread storm was predicted for Tuesday afternoon and evening.

As of 10:25 a.m. Tuesday, a National Weather Service gauge on Black Creek near Blitchton had recorded 9.24 inches of rain in 24 hours. A similar gauge near Oliver on the Ogeechee River recorded 6.63 inches in the 24 hours ending 10:30 a.m.

“We’re getting inundated with road closures,” Cannady said. “What we’ve been trying to do is receive the advisories from people. … Either send us a direct message on the Public Safety EMA Facebook page or call 911.”

Posting on other county threads may result in the county’s crew leaders missing the messages, he said. The DM on Facebook or message left with a 911 dispatcher should  include the  road  name and an intersection or some other  locator of where  the trouble is on that road.

As of a 9 a.m. Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA listed these as ROADS ALREADY CLOSED: Zettwell Road  from Bruce  Groover Road and Plantation Point Drive, Burkhalter Road from 5 Chop Road to Magnolia Church Road, Nevils-Daisy Road from Indigo Hill to 1471 Nevils-Daisy Rd., Ash Branch Road  from Loggins to Seed Tick Road, Ash Branch Church Road from Lawrence Church to Burnsed Road, and Nevils Denmark Road at Highway 46, with the notation “road is starting to cave in.”

Roads on the “TO BE CLOSE SHORTLY” list as of 9 a.m. Tuesday: Sinkhole Road from Burkhalter Road  to Highway 46, again with the note “road is starting to cave in,” Prosser Road from Spring Creek to Stilson-Leefield Road, and Lakeview Road in the area of Coleman Creek.

At that time the “roads … with water over them that have not yet be closed” included Banks Dairy Road at the fire substation, Lotts Creek at Joe Hodges, Cypress Lake Road at Riggs Circle, Sinkhole at Bowen-Rushing, Spell Mincey, noted “washed out,” Highway 46 at the Candler County line, Kelly’s Pond at  Union Church, noted “washed out,” Cypress  Lake Road at the city limits of Register, noted “washed out,” 940 Prosser Rd., Brooklet-Denmark Road  at Cromley Road, Golf Club Road at Burkhalter and Nevils-Daisy Road at Anderson.

Water had subsided in some locations by later in the morning, but  other road segments were being closed.

The Bulloch County Sheriff’s office shared a notice of its own on the EMA Facebook page, with a photo of a place on Nevils-Denmark Road at Highway 46 where pavement had collapsed along the edge with water flowing underneath.

“Folks there is a reason we have road closed signs put out,” the BCSO notice stated. “Please stop driving around them, we put them there for your safety.”

In another statement on that “Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA” page, the agency gave an estimate of 40 to 50 roads affected, with water over them at some point, five trees fallen on houses and approximately 10 powerlines down, with about 150 to 200 Georgia Power and Excelsior EMC customers without power around 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Fully deployed

Bulloch has the most unpaved roads of any county in Georgia, somewhere between 600 and 700 miles of them, Dink Butler, the county’s Public Works Division director, noted Monday when interviewed about preparations for the storm.

After having at least four small crews scheduled to respond to emergencies Monday night, with others on-call if needed, the division was deploying its full available workforce Tuesday for cleanup. Butler said there would be probably 30 Public Works crews at work. Those crews can include three to six workers each, including inmates from Bulloch County Correctional Institution.

County staff will post further notices on the Facebook page, and local officials also send out emergency alerts electronically via CodeRed, a service to which Bulloch County and the city of Statesboro subscribe and make available to the public. A shortened link to the signup page is https://bit.ly/2zkAdOl .