Flood waters are starting to retreat across Mt. Olivet Church Road in Fleming, and local officials are assessing the damage resulting from Tropical Storm Debby.

Rainfall amounts, ranging from 10 to 12 inches over a four-day period north of Liberty County, caused both the Canoochee and Ogeechee rivers to reach historic levels. As a result, certain areas of the county within the watersheds of those rivers experienced extremely high-water levels, county officials said.

The Liberty County Emergency Agency, in conjunction with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, began monitoring rising basin levels and contacting residents August 9. Red Cross approved relocation shelters were established August 10 for those wanting to evacuate and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief was mobilized to assist if necessary. Fortunately, no one indicated the need or desire to move to the shelter.

The county, both manually and with drone technology, began cataloging water levels and surveying structures for possible damage. During this process, LCMA worked closely with several partner agencies, including the Liberty County Board of Education, to provide status updates so that the agency could make critical decisions involving school closures and attendance.

Following several days of monitoring, water levels have receded, which will allow damage assessment teams to visit the impacted areas. This will involve visiting all sites suspected of sustaining losses because of the flooding or storm.

Per GEMA requirements, these teams will record damage and provide estimates that will be sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This work is expected to extend into next week. If your residential structure has sustained damage, call (912) 3682201 and leave your name, address, and contact number.

Liberty County is working with groups to help aid and guide those residents directly impacted by the storm. The United Way of the Coastal Empire has included Liberty County as part of its Rapid Response Disaster Fund area. They may be contacted by calling 211, emailing 211@uwce.org, or visiting the United Way website at uwce.org/211. Individuals may call the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief at (770) 936-5254 or the Red Cross at (803) 309-1330

tel:(803) 309-1330

Liberty County will provide a container for use by residents to dispose of damaged material on Saturday. The site will be located on Mt. Olivet Church Road directly across the road from the church. Residents may not place any paint, oil or petroleum products, or hazardous material in the container.

Stretches of Mt. Olivet Church Road were submerged and virtually impassable until the start of the week. A stretch of Highway 196 westbound at its Pate Rogers Road intersection was down to one lane because of water on the road.

The City of Hinesville recorded spills from its Fort Stewart wastewater treatment plant as a result of heavy rain getting into its system.

The city recorded elevated flow at its Fort Stewart plant, which is permitted to treat 7.15 million gallons per day. The flow reached 10.37 million gallons, and the city had spills from manholes on Rowe Street, Blue Stone Loop and Kingston Lane, with approximately 599,000 gallons discharged into a tributary that leads into Mill Creek.

The spills were also caused by heavy rain from the storm overwhelming the collection system.

On Monday, the city had spills from manholes at Rowe Street and Kingston Lane due to rainfall and the residual impact of Tropical Storm Debby, which overwhelmed the sewer collection system. Approximately 3,390 gallons were released at these points and discharged into an unnamed tributary, which leads to Mill Creek.

On August 7, heavy rainfall due to Hurricane/ TS Debby overwhelmed the sanitary sewer collection system and elevated the plant flow for that date to 12.86 mgd, well above the average plant design flow of 7.15 mgd.

In addition, approximately 89,366 gallons were released from the plant’s headworks and discharged into an unnamed tributary leading to Taylors Creek, along with the partially treated plant discharge. The city also had a spill at its Mill Creek lift station on August 8. The power outage was quickly remedied by the service provider and approximately 7,125 gallons reached state waters (Mill Creek), classifying it as a spill by the state.

On August 6, a major spill of 15.66 million gallons of partially treated wastewater occurred at the Fort Stewart plant. The facility discharges to an unnamed tributary leading to Taylors Creek, and on this day, the total suspended solids of 65.5 mg/l leaving the facility exceeded the spill threshold of 25 mg/l set by EPD. The spill was due to stormwater entering the collection system during an excessive rainfall event.

City manager Kenneth Howard said the storm dumped nearly 10 inches of rain August 4-5, overwhelming the city’s sewer collection system with stormwater, which ultimately ended up at the wastewater treatment facility.

With that stormwater, the treatment plant exceeded its capacity of 7.15 MGD by nearly 4 million gallons of water. The excess flow, Howard said, inhibited the plant from treating the wastewater sufficiently.

“We did get partial treatment,” he said. “The spill was not untreated wastewater.”

State and local officials were notified of the spills, and the city will sample its receiving waters both upstream and downstream for one year.