Baker County monitoring Flint River levels

(NEWTON, GA)- With even more rain coming through our area this week, Baker County officials are keeping an eye on the Flint River cresting in Newton.

While the water levels were starting to recede, county officials are monitoring how much the river will flood again.

County Manager, Sherry Bailey says, ”I am expecting that to be higher, further out. With the additional rain that’s coming, we’re looking at four to five more inches between today, tonight, and tomorrow. We’ve had some bouts of some really heavy rain.”

Baker County announced that the Flint River had already crested around 26.6 feet, enough to flood plenty of roads; especially the more than 180 miles of dirt road in the county.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work in the county over the past few months, attempting to work through that, clearing our ditches, and building up roads where we can. But we do have some low areas that mostly, when we have heavy rainfall, we have water over the roads,” says Bailey.

As county officials continue to monitor more river flooding, there isn’t much else they can do until after the storms let up and even more rain runs off into the Flint River.

Bailey says, “I’m not expecting at this point for the river levels to rise to the point that we will have flooding on the rivers or any structures. But mainly, we’re just watching…”

The National Weather Service says right now the river could crest at around 21 feet.