Ivan: Not So Terrible After All

September 23, 2004

Ivan released his fury across much of the southeast late last week, but despite long-lasting rains, Scott County emerged largely unscathed from his visit.

After coming ashore in the Gulf of Mexico, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan rolled through East tennessee Thursday and Friday before tracking into the mountains of the Carolinas.

Compared to the predicted force of the tropical depression, the weather along the Cumberland Plateau was relatively calm. Meteorologists had originally feared that the Plateau might receive as much as 10 inches of rain and that the hurricane's remnants might spawn tornadoes as it trudged through the region.

But while Ivan dumped as much as a half-foot of rain in many areas and caused minor flood problems in various areas of the county, damages from gusting winds were virtually nonexistent.

In the O&W Road area, waters from Pine Creek, which was flowing well out-of-banks in many areas, coupled with backed up water from the low-lying areas along the road, threatened several residences, with waters creeking around a half-dozen mobile homes in the aera. However, there was little apparent damage as the water simply seeped through the underpinning of the mobile homes and did not enter the living areas of the residences.

Most of the other streams around the county were out of their banks during the day on Friday, but caused relatively few problems, with no major road closings reported. In Glenmary, rising waters from Wolf Creek threatened U.S. Highway 27 for a period of time Friday afternoon, and west of Oneida, the park service opted to close the river access at Leatherwood Ford to the public after the Big South Fork River rose into the parking lot by late Friday evening. In the eastern part of the county, Straight Fork Creek flowed well out-of-banks on Friday morning along Baker Highway. Its waters came within feet of several residences, but the water mostly affected open pastureland.

Locally, the Scott County School System joined many other school districts around East Tennessee in cancelling classes on Friday. Roane State Community College also cancelled Friday classes and the Oneida Special School District dismissed classes at 1 p.m.

The Scott County Fall Festival, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was cancelled on Wednesday (Sept. 15) by a vote of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, in anticipation of the inclement weather.

Virtually all local sporting events were also affected, with most middle school football gams, Thursday's Scott vs. Oneida soccer game and Friday's middle school track meet all being postponed.

Both local high school football games were played on Thursday.

While Scott County escaped the brunt of Ivan's blow, other parts of the southeast were not so lucky. After Ivan lost hurricane strength upon moving ashore, it spawned several tornadoes in Alabama, where one died; Georgia, where one died; and North Carolina, where six were killed. In all, Ivan was blamed for 19 deaths in the United States. The total death toll from the storm reached 80.

news@ihoneida.com

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