Historic rainfall brought 1,000-year rain event to Blue Ridge

The cleanup continues across North Georgia after a historic rainfall event dumped more than 11 inches of rain in parts of the mountains, washing out roads and triggering significant flooding.

Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan says some of the rainfall totals from Wednesday night into Thursday morning reached levels rarely seen in the region.

“Wednesday night into Thursday morning, an historic rainfall event producing 100 and even 1,000-year rainfall totals,” Monahan said.

One of the most extreme totals was recorded just northwest of Blue Ridge, where more than 11 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period.

“This particular total at 11 inches is what we call a thousand-year rain event,” Monahan said.

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That doesn’t mean an event like this happens exactly once every 1,000 years. Instead, it describes the probability of receiving that much rain during a certain period.

Monahan said an 11-inch, 24-hour rainfall total in Blue Ridge has about a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year.

“That is how heavy and how fast the rain came down in Blue Ridge,” he said.

Other areas of Fannin County and Gilmer County experienced what qualified as a 100-year rainfall event, meaning there is about a 1% chance of seeing that amount of rain in a given year.

The extreme rainfall overwhelmed roads, creeks and drainage systems across portions of the North Georgia mountains, leaving behind washouts and significant flood damage.

While the rain has ended, the recovery is only beginning.

Monahan says much drier weather is expected over the next several days, giving communities a chance to clean up and assess the damage through the weekend.