Ocmulgee River Flooding From Heavy Rain

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – All the rain over the last few days is flooding the Ocmulgee River in downtown Macon.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for parts of the river between Fifth Street bridge and Spring Street.

The river is normally four to seven feet deep. As of Tuesday, the water has reached 18 feet and is expected to get as high as 20 feet by Thursday.

County officials closed the Macon Greenway Ocmulgee Heritage Trail due to the high waters. The Macon-Bibb County Emergency Management Agency says the rain is not the only reason why the river is flooding.

“It’s not just the rain here, it’s primarily up in north Georgia and the Atlanta area. When it fills up, these rivers and streams, we just get the run off, their watershed and into the Ocmulgee,” Macon-Bibb County EMA director Don Druitt said.

The last time the river got this high was in 1997. During the great flood of 1994, the Ocmulgee River got over 34 feet of water. County officials don’t expect the water to rise that much this time around.