Southeast Georgia school closures, neighbors unable to leave their homes because of flooding

Brantley County, Ware County and Pierce County Schools will be closed for students Tuesday, Dec. 4 after heavy rains washed out dirt roads.

Brantley County and Pierce County have asked all staff to report to school at their normally scheduled time. Ware County is asking only 12-month employees to report tomorrow at 10 a.m. if they don't have any safety issues with water over the road or bridge outages.

Some neighbors say they missed work Monday after heavy rain caused already saturated roads to flood in Southeast Georgia.

Waycross had already seen 10 inches of rain over the weekend when Monday’s heavy rain moved in.

Virginia Avenue was nearly unrecognizable aside from mailboxes lining it. Water came right up to the doorsteps of some homes.

Jeff and Jo Braddy came to check on their sister, who lives a street over.

“I told my husband, ‘Oh gosh, these people can’t get out of their homes or get back in,” Jo Braddy said.

Some people did brave the flooding. The only vehicles we saw making it through were trucks and ATVs.

Justin Harris lives toward the back of the road. He said he watched the water begin to rise around 2 a.m. but never thought it would get so high.

"Definitely shocked," he said. “I’ve been here since 2013 I believe it was, and this is the first time since I’ve been back here."

Roads in Brantley County were also washed out and underwater.

Many people posted photos online saying the roads around their homes were impassable.

Crews in each county were out surveying to let neighbors know which routes were unsafe.

Neighbors say they hope the water subsides quickly so those who couldn’t leave their homes aren’t stuck for long.

“It bothers me, you know. I hope everything’s OK and they have enough supplies and stuff if they can’t get out,” Jo Braddy said.

UPDATE 12:50 P.M. -- Officials said that 350 miles of road in Brantley County are unpaved, and up to 40 percent of them are impassable.

Officials said that they are currently monitoring the areas along the Satilla River, as it is rising and forecasted to flood later this week.

The have been reports of rain ranging from 4.5 inches to 10.5 inches throughout the county.

UPDATE 11:25 A.M.  -- Widespread flooding and washed-roads have been reported in Brantley and Ware County.

Photos from the small community of Hortense, Ga. showed damaged roadways after unrelenting rain over the last two days.

PHOTO GALLERY: Flooding in Brantley County 

Some residents say they can't leave their homes because of flooded roadways during the second day day in a row of heavy rain.

Ware, Brantley and Pierce counties canceled classes on Monday, saying road conditions were poor and that more severe weather was expected.

----

The First Alert Weather Team will be watching for a line of storms in southeast Georgia to start shifting south and east through the morning.

Tornado warnings were issued early Monday in Columbia County, Glynn County (Ga.) and Camden County (Ga.). Counties in southeast Georgia were also under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.

STAY UPDATED: Free First Alert Weather app | Interactive Radar 

This morning will be cloudy and muggy with scattered showers and storms across Northeast Florida and a broken line if rain and storms in our Georgia counties.

Schools are closed in Brantley, Pierce and Ware County because of flooding threats.

A cold front is slowly moving its way from southeast Georgia to northeast Florida, and that will move rain and storms along with it.

The afternoon will be cloudy with scattered showers and storms.

Isolated severe storms and even an isolated tornado will be possible especially through early afternoon.

Scattered showers will continue through the afternoon and tonight before the front moves south of us. Skies will begin to clear by Tuesday morning with cooler temperatures expected the rest of this week.

Temps in the 30s return for Jacksonville on Thursday morning.

Cox Media Group