Floods

Jamie Jones
Dalton Daily Citizen

Murray and Whitfield counties are under a flood warning until 2:15 p.m. today, meaning floods are occurring or on the way, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS also placed the two counties under a flood watch until 7 p.m. today, which means conditions are favorable for flooding, especially along larger streams and rivers.

An operator with Murray County 911 said there was flooding throughout the county, but said there had been no major problems or serious accidents reported as of 10 a.m. The operator said there were no closed roads, adding the “torrential rain” caused several areas to have standing water.

“There have just been fender benders and people running off the road because of the rain,” he said.

Jeffrey Putnam, Whitfield County Emergency Services director, said this morning only one road in the county — River Road — was closed. He said “there was nothing to” a reported rock slide near the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center. There was only one rock about 18 inches in diameter in the road, he said.

Putnam urged residents to be cautious while driving, while the NWS warned of more flooding tonight.

“Some creeks and rivers across north Georgia are already near flood stage,” according to the NWS. “The additional rainfall late tonight could push the creeks and rivers above flood stage.”

An area of showers and thunderstorms across central Georgia this morning will shift north through the day. North Georgia received between two and three inches of rain Wednesday and this morning. An extra one to three inches of rain is expected throughout the day.

Tonight, the rain, combined with temperatures near freezing, could bring some snow, according to the NWS. Little or no accumulation is expected. The rain is expected to clear out Friday, bringing sunny skies and highs in the mid 40s

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (AHN) - A total of 112 people have died from the massive floods and mudslides that struck southern Brazil while 19 people remain missing and 79,000 residents displaced, according to the national broadcaster Agencia Brasil.

Many of the fatalities were buried by landslides with Ilhota City in the hardest-hit Santa Catarina state registering the most deaths at 37.

Officials have distributed 880 tons of food, nearly one million liters of water and 60 tons of clothing, toys and cleaning and personal hygiene material, Agencia Brasil said Monday, according to CNN.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has ordered the release of $854 million in aid to the affected areas, especially Santa Catarina.

More snow is expected later in the week, followed by colder temperatures.

The heaviest snow fell Sunday and early Monday across a stretch of central Illinois roughly along Interstate 74 from west of Peoria to east of the Bloomington-Normal area. The National Weather Service said 7.5 inches of snow fell around Bloomington, and a number of rural schools were closed Monday.

Icy roads led to fatal accidents just outside Champaign and near Lincoln on Monday, according to police.

Venita Hubbard, 32, of Champaign, died after her car slid into a pickup on an icy road in the city just after 8 a.m., Champaign police said. And a 21-year-old Bloomington woman died when her car slid into the path of an oncoming tractor trailer on U.S. Highway 136 west of Lincoln, Illinois State Police said. They didn't immediately release her name.

State Police handled dozens of accidents across the state Monday, even in southern Illinois, where snowfall was modest — less than 2 inches in most cases.

"At one point we had over two dozen troopers already at crash locations with over 50 additional calls pending," said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins, who is based in Collinsville.

Snow wasn't as heavy in the Chicago area, where a couple of inches fell, but low visibility and gusty winds caused flight delays Monday at Chicago's two main airports.

Delays at O'Hare International Airport, the nation's second busiest air hub after Atlanta, averaged about 30 minutes, and 50 flights were canceled Monday, Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman Gregg Cunningham said. Those cancelations were in addition to 50 other flights canceled at O'Hare on Sunday as the storm rolled into Chicago.

At Midway International Airport, delays were around 15 minutes and there were no cancelations, Cunningham said.

The season's first winter storm provided the first big test for a new $450 million O'Hare runway and air-traffic tower, which opened on Nov. 20. A federal analysis appeared to show that it helped reduce flight delays, as aviation officials hoped it would. Whenever bad weather reduced visibility, controllers could land just two planes at a time — reducing capacity by a third.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the 72-flights-per-hour arrival rate for Sunday afternoon and evening "very, very good for the weather we had," but declined to estimate how much worse delays might have been at O'Hare without the new runway.

The National Weather Service forecasts rain turning to snow Wednesday and into Thursday, followed by "much colder air behind that at the end of the week," with lows in the teens and highs ranging from the mid-20s in northern Illinois to the lower 30s in the south, meteorologist Chuck Schaffer said.