Atlanta weather turned dangerous Saturday evening as the National Weather Service in Peachtree City issued a flash flood warning for northwestern DeKalb County and southwestern Gwinnett County until 9:00 p.m. Saturday. Doppler radar at 5:59 p.m. showed thunderstorms unloading extreme rainfall, and a ground stop was also issued at Atlanta's main airport.
DeKalb County and Gwinnett County
The warning covered Lawrenceville, Peachtree Corners, Dunwoody, Duluth, Lilburn, Chamblee, Norcross, Doraville and Clarkston. Other areas facing immediate water hazards included Stone Mountain, Avondale Estates, Berkeley Lake, Pine Lake, Tucker, North Decatur, Belvedere Park, Mountain Park and Mechanicsville.
The weather service said flash flooding was ongoing or expected to begin shortly. Residents in those places had already seen between 1 and 3 inches of rain, with 1 to 2 more inches still possible before the warning expired.
Atlanta's main airport
The airport ground stop came as a series of intense, isolated summer storms moved through metro Atlanta on Saturday evening. That left travelers and airport operations dealing with the same storm system that was driving the flood warning.
The forecast carried a complication for anyone trying to plan around the storm: the overall rain chance for Friday and Saturday was holding steady at 20%, even as Doppler radar showed the storms already producing flooding rain. The weather pattern was expected to shift by Sunday and Monday, when storm chances were set to rise to 50%.
For anyone in the warning area, the immediate step was simple: stay clear of water-covered roads and monitor conditions closely until 9:00 p.m. The rain had already started, and the heaviest bursts could still arrive before the warning ended.
