CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga crews staged for heavy rain, high winds and possible flooding this weekend as the remnants of Hurricane Isaias moved toward the Tennessee Valley.
Forecasters expected Isaias to deliver 1 to 3 inches of rain and winds up to 50 mph, with flash flooding and high wind warnings in effect. Heavy rain and windy conditions were expected around the time the UTC Mocs hosted Samford on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Chattanooga Public Works prepped teams for potential inclement weather, possible flooding and downed trees. City Wide Services planned six teams on call, equipped with chainsaws, knuckle boom trucks, backhoes and flashers to respond to flood calls and clear downed trees.
The transportation team planned to double on-call coverage for the entire weekend to address traffic signal issues, with an emergency team in place on Saturday. All sandbag requests have been delivered to all community centers. City officials asked residents not to travel until weather services reported conditions were clear.
At EPB, crews across the organization prepared to respond to outages, calling in additional crews from outside the service area. EPB automated grid continues working to reduce outages by rerouting power around damaged equipment when possible.
Residents were urged to charge phones and power banks, secure outdoor furniture and other loose items that could become hazards in high winds, and stay away from downed power lines while reporting them immediately to 911. Mayor Tim Kelly city operations and Hamilton County partners treated the weekend as a flood-and-wind readiness drill after landfall impacts farther south.
