McCaysville water customers can drink from the tap again. The Fannin County Emergency Management Agency lifted the boil water advisory for all customers Thursday, Aug. 6, clearing a restriction that had families hauling bottled water home from City Hall and kept downtown restaurants dark for the better part of a week. It came far sooner than expected: after the Aug. 1-2 flash flood, officials had talked about repairs stretching two to three more weeks.
That is the good news, and it is the only piece of this that is finished.
The McCaysville Police Department and the city's post office have both been deemed unsafe and are closed until further notice, Police Chief and Public Safety Director Michael Otis Earley said. Police operations have moved to 1000 Blue Ridge Drive, near Fire Station 4. Mail service has been temporarily shifted to the Morganton Post Office, and officials asked residents to hold off on showing up until Monday so postal workers could get the mail transferred.
Where things stand for residents
| Service | Where it is now |
|---|---|
| Tap water | Safe. No boiling needed. |
| Police department | 1000 Blue Ridge Drive, by Fire Station 4 |
| Temporarily at Morganton Post Office | |
| Horseshoe Bend Park | Closed, no reopen date |
On the post office, there is a wrinkle worth knowing before you drive anywhere. The U.S. Postal Service says the McCaysville facility is running modified P.O. Box operations. Some boxes are still reachable. Customers whose boxes were affected can pick up their mail at the retail counter with photo ID, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. Closed Sunday.
What the water did
More than seven inches of rain fell on Fannin County in eight hours overnight Saturday into Sunday. Downtown McCaysville took chest-deep water. Mud came with it, and the cleanup crews were still shoveling it off sidewalks days later.
Firefighters rescued 19 people across Fannin County as the water rose. Homes along the Toccoa River took several feet inside, and cars were pushed over the bank. In Blue Ridge, a road collapsed with a driver trapped in a vehicle. A road in Epworth washed out entirely. The city declared a state of emergency on Aug. 2.
The water treatment plant failed, and the system took multiple main breaks. At the worst of it, the city asked people not to use water at all unless it was an emergency. The Tennessee Valley Authority trucked in clean water. Georgia State Defense Force soldiers deployed to McCaysville on Aug. 3 for debris removal, water distribution and door-to-door checks on residents in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.
The question nobody has answered
Public safety leaders have pointed at two things that turned a bad storm into a downtown flood. Gravel and silt from the ongoing State Route 5 construction washed into town during the downpour. At the same time, the Toccoa River came up high enough to bump the bottom of the downtown bridge, shoving floating debris into the storm drains until the drainage system was completely plugged. Chief Earley said the runoff funneled straight down Blue Ridge Drive.
GDOT's position is that no drainage system could have handled it. Spokesperson Natalie Dale called it the kind of storm with less than a 1% chance of hitting this area in any given year, said state and contracted crews reopened SR 5 after 20 hours of cleanup, and said the department will look into mitigation strategies going forward.
What that means in practice has not been spelled out. There is no published plan, no cost, and no date. The construction on SR 5 is not finished.
Downtown is still closed in places
Businesses along the Riverwalk are still working their way back. Mexico Loco, among others, was shut down after the flood, unable to operate on contaminated municipal water. With the advisory lifted, that particular obstacle is gone, though mud, damaged equipment and insurance are not.
Horseshoe Bend Park remains closed for flood damage with no announced reopening. Along the Riverwalk, crews found erosion and downed trees that show how hard the water moved through.
No consolidated damage total has been released for homes, businesses or public buildings in Fannin County, and the city has not said whether the police department and post office buildings can be repaired or will have to be replaced. Earley said officials are working to determine the best path forward. Watch for that decision to come through McCaysville City Council, which met in special session during the first week of the emergency and will have to sign off on any permanent relocation.
We will keep following the recovery at Blue Ridge Georgia Community Website. If your street, business or P.O. Box is still affected, tell your neighbors what you are seeing and join the conversation in our Community Forum. You can also read more public safety stories and check our latest alerts for updates as they come in.
Header photo: Thomson200 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
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