- Three to four inches of rain could fall in the Valdosta area by Wednesday night.
- The has seen a lot of rain since Hurricane Idalia dumped 14 inches last August.
- Watch the video to hear from neighbors about Valdosta's most flood prone areas.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
As heavy rainfall is inching towards South Georgia, Valdosta's under a flood watch.
I'm Malia Thomas, your neighborhood reporter in Valdosta, and I'm speaking with neighbors at some of our more flood prone areas.
"I've experienced hurricanes, tornadoes."
If you're from Valdosta, then you probably recognize J.D. Rice.
He's our retired fire chief; he's lived and battles some of the worst weather disasters the Azalea City has seen.
He tells me certain areas around town are more prone to flooding than others, such as, "portions of Ashley Street typically flood. There's areas over by the old high school that floods. There's some areas of off of North Oak Street."
He also tells me that he believes some of these neighborhoods would see less flooding if changes were made.
"There are some areas like that because of drainage issues. There has to be some infrastructure improvements to make things a lot more palatable for for our residents."
Valdosta's about to see 3-4 inches of rain, making a flood watch necessary for those areas.
According to our First to Know Weather team, just the last 12 months alone, Valdosta has seen a surplus of rainfall by over 13 inches.
Hurricane Idalia itself was Valdosta's rainiest day with over 14 inches of rainfall on August 30, 2023.
With 36 days until hurricane season officially begins, Meghan Barwick with Lowndes County urges neighbors to prepare, "emergency supply kits with non perishable food items medications any other item that they may need in the event that they are without some sort of power throughout the day."
J.D. agrees and tells neighbors to watch the roadways in the coming days just in case a flood does happen.
"Well, you can see some areas there's gonna be impassable, and like I said, let let the the experts clear away first. They'll tell you if if it's safe to travel on certain streets or go in certain neighborhoods."
Lowndes EMA is encouraging neighbors to watch the roadways and remember to turn around, don't drown.
