Rainfall plagues the area as rivers continue rising

By Carrie A. Mizell

Nearly an inch of rain fell on Gilchrist County overnight Monday as well as in south Georgia, which will make flood waters from the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers rise to historic crest levels by next week.

Early Tuesday morning as the rain continued to fall, the Suwannee River at Wilcox was at 11.72 feet. According to the Suwannee River Water Management District, the river at Wilcox is predicted to crest at 16.7 feet on Wednesday, Apr. 22. The Suwannee is predicted to crest at 25.9 feet at Rock Bluff on Sunday.

The Santa Fe River near Ft. White was at 25.36 feet on Tuesday morning and predicted to crest at 29.9 feet on Sunday.

According to Billy Cannon, assistant superintendent of the Gilchrist County Road Department, 14 roads in Gilchrist County were closed due to flooding as of Tuesday morning. All of the roads closed are dirt roads with the exception of County Road 344, also known as the Hart Springs Road, which was closed on Sunday afternoon after the murky water covered the highway three-quarters of a mile from Paul Redd’s home at the end of CR 344.

Sandbags are now available for residents and can be picked up at the Gilchrist County Emergency Operations Center or the Gilchrist County Road Department, said Ron Mills, chief of Gilchrist County Emergency Management. Water will be available on a limited basis after the flooding, Mills said.
Potable water is currently available at the stand pipe at the southeast corner of County Administrator Ron McQueen’s office.

When floodwaters at Wilcox rose above 9 feet on Sunday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) activated boating restrictions on the only zone of the river that hadn’t been restricted yet.

This section, Zone 4, is from the County Road 340 Bridge at Rock Bluff to one mile below the Fowler’s Bluff Boat Ramp. According to FWC, this 51-mile segment will be an idle-speed, no-wake zone as long as the Suwannee is at 9 feet or more.

Boating restrictions on the other four zones of the Suwannee River were activated last week.

FWC officers are patrolling swollen rivers to ensure boaters comply with the idle-speed, no-wake rule, said Capt. Roy Brown, area supervisor at the FWC’s Lake City office.

The FWC is encouraging boaters to stay off the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers until conditions improve.

For more information about the flood zones, call (386) 758-0525. To report violations, call (888) 404-3922. To obtain the latest river level information, see www.mysuwanneeriver.com