Massive amounts of rain spared no one in Limestone County as roads and yards saw flooding and a few homes even saw damage from lightning, according to emergency reports.

The National Weather Service in Huntsville announced a flood watch around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday that is set to remain in effect through Friday afternoon. While a watch means there is potential for flooding, some roads were deemed impassable hours before the watch was announced.

“We’ve got some bad spots around Mooresville and Cowford (roads), where the water sits all the time anyway,” said Limestone County District 3 Commissioner Jason Black. “It’s just going to be worse today (Wednesday) and worse tomorrow (Thursday).”

Black said he was out until about 3 a.m. Wednesday. His foreman was back out at 5 a.m., he said.

“It’s a lot of water, and it’s gotta fall,” Black said. “… It’s low spots in the road, it’s ditches that are carrying all the water they can carry, and some of them are filling up with debris that’s washing into the tile.”

District 4 Commissioner Ben Harrison was also out all day Wednesday. Harrison said there were “hundreds of places” that had experienced flooding and advised residents to exercise patience.

“We’re out trying to do what we can,” he said. “The roads are too numerous for us to barricade and put signage up at every road, so people are going to have to use their judgments. Turn around, don’t drown, that sort of thing.”

However, areas that would pose particular threat to night-time drivers were barricaded and given signage. These areas included Easter Ferry Road at Sewell Road and Myers Road north of Alabama 99.

More to come

NWS meteorologist Chelly Amin said amounts varied across North Alabama on Tuesday, with some areas seeing as much as 4 inches. Wednesday morning brought another 2.5 to 3 inches.

Amin said the southeastern part of Limestone County received the least amount, while northwestern Limestone County saw the most. In Ardmore, an older woman ended up in 5 feet of water after she drove around an officer setting up a barricade to reach an underpass.

“I was blocking off the road and an elderly woman didn’t realize she couldn’t go straight,” said Ardmore Police Department Officer Michael Daniels. “She thought I was just blocking the side road and went around me. She didn’t realize how deep the water was.”

Daniels said he had to swim out to her and pull her out through her car window. Fortunately, the woman was “just a little shaken up,” he said.

“It’s good that whoever it was is OK,” Amin said. “These are flooded roads. Even if it’s only a little flooded, you don’t know that the road isn’t washed out, especially with it getting dark. If there are barricades, people definitely need to heed them.”

She said there had been five or six incidents Wednesday in which people in the coverage area had to be escorted out of flood areas after trying to cross water-covered roads.

“It’s completely preventable,” Amin said.

The NWS released a hazardous weather outlook at 12:26 p.m. Wednesday that forecasted continued high flooding risk Wednesday night and additional rainfall through the weekend. The heaviest rainfall was predicted for northwest Alabama and southern middle Tennessee, which would “add runoff to already swollen rivers and creeks across the area.”

Strong to severe thunderstorms were listed as “possible” for Saturday and Sunday, with wind gusts up to 60 mph being the primary threat but brief tornadoes also possible.

School closings

Limestone County Schools began the day as usual but released early after reports of flooding in the area. Director of Transportation Rusty Bates said they were working with the Limestone County Emergency Management Agency and Limestone County Sheriff’s Office to ensure bus routes could get students from school to home as safely as possible.

“We monitor the weather as best we can, checking on road closures, seeing where our problem areas are,” Bates said.

Bates said he was glad there were no double bus routes planned but some buses being out of town for a sports tournament at Wallace State Community College had thrown a wrench in their usual procedure. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, Limestone County Schools had not announced whether they would be closed or delayed today.