Flooding, heavy rain trigger spike in calls for help to Rome company — and more could be on the way.
Rain. Lots of it.
Since a week ago, Rome has seen more than six inches of rain, boosting the monthly total above 10 inches. The continuing rain has triggered flooding across Rome/Floyd County as well as other parts of Northwest Georgia.
Larry Alford, who with twin Barry Alford own Rome-based ServiceMaster by Twins, can tell you when the water started to become a major problem: right around 7:30 Christmas Eve morning and continuing ever since.
Says Larry Alford: It has “been a very busy Christmas holiday. We have had 19 jobs come in since Christmas Eve morning in Rome and Northwest Georgia. All together, we have received 71 jobs. We have not had any calls yet but think we will once water recedes. We have extra crews ready for (today). A lot of people are waiting to talk to their insurance companies (on Monday) so we expect a lot of calls this week.”
Alford’s had teams on the go for several days. “We had crews out 7:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day, we worked 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Worked 14 hours (Saturday) and will be 14 (Sunday).”
But, adds Alford, “I love helping people.”
Alford might have even more business ahead if the grim winter forecast holds. Meteorologists already are predicting a wetter, colder winter — even if we did set a record high of 74 on Sunday.
Kent Frantz, a senior hydrologist for the National Weather Service’s Peachtree City office, says forecasters are more concerned about our weather now through April because of the saturating rainfall in recent days.
While the region could handle a storm pushing one to two inches of new rain without much of a problem during most winter months, a series of storms with that much rainfall could be problematic, Frantz says. The reason: the runoff would have nowhere to go as the basin already is at capacity.
For now, all eyes are on the storm expected later today and the one to two inches of rain it is expected to bring.
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