Record Flood Emergency in McCaysville and Copperhill: River Tops Its 1990 Mark

Two towns that share one river woke up to a record flood on Thursday, November 5. Flash flood emergencies were in effect for McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee, on the Georgia-Tennessee border, CNN reported, citing the National Weather Service — a flash flood emergency is the highest level of flood warning the service issues.

The river that runs through both towns — the Toccoa River in Georgia, becoming the Ocoee River across the line in Tennessee — crested just above its previous record, set in 1990, just after 6 a.m. ET, above the level the weather service associates with a catastrophic flood event in the two towns. WVLT, citing a weather service graphic, put the crest at Copperhill at 18.05 feet, against a previous record of 17.8 feet.

Widespread totals of 3 to 6 inches fell from slow-moving overnight storms across parts of north Georgia, with more than 8 inches in isolated spots, CNN reported. Up to 6 inches fell in just six hours at multiple gauges — a rate CNN described as at least a 1-in-200-year rainfall.

That speed is what turned a heavy-rain night into an emergency before dawn: the water arrived faster than creeks and streets could drain it, and the river kept rising into the morning even as the rain itself moved out.

A state of emergency was issued in McCaysville and the city was closed until further notice, according to the city's police chief, Michael Earley, CNN reported. Crews in Georgia performed more than 30 water rescues as of Thursday morning, WVLT reported, and CNN said numerous residents in Fannin County, where McCaysville sits, still needed evacuation early Thursday, with evacuations ordered on West Tennessee Avenue and East Tennessee Avenue.

In Tennessee, the weather service said the flooding had caused major flooding of the Ocoee River in far southeastern Tennessee, specifically Polk County, and that river levels were expected to stay flooded through the rest of today, WVLT reported. The flash flood emergency there was extended to 11 a.m. A separate flash flood emergency was also issued overnight for other parts of Fannin County and Gilmer County in Georgia, CNN said.

Not yet. CNN reported the rain had ended across northern Georgia and southern Tennessee, with no additional downpours expected through the weekend — but dangerous river flooding would remain a threat throughout the day. A river that has just set a record does not fall back to its banks in an hour; the crest moving downstream is the hazard for the rest of Thursday.

Anyone in the affected counties should follow the National Weather Service and local emergency management, not a news summary: road closures, evacuation orders and the all-clear will come from them first, and flooded roads in hill country can be cut off well away from the river itself.

The same cross-country storm system is now moving its rain toward the East Coast. WorldEye's weather radar and weather tracker show the system's progress, and the U.S. traffic cameras collection is the practical check for road conditions before any trip through the southern Appalachians today.

For McCaysville and Copperhill, Thursday's number will stand in the record books either way: 18.05 feet, above a mark that had held since February 1990. What matters for the rest of the day is the fall — how fast the Toccoa-Ocoee drops, and how soon the rescues can give way to the count of what the water took.