The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for the Chattooga River at Summerville, effective from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Minor flooding is expected in the area. The river is forecast to exceed its flood stage of 14 feet early Thursday afternoon, cresting at an estimated 15.9 feet tomorrow evening before receding below flood stage late Saturday morning.

As of 7:45 PM EST Wednesday, the river stage was at 5 feet and rising. According to the NWS, at 16 feet, minor flooding will continue and expand further into woodlands and fields along the river both upstream and downstream from the U.S. Highway 27 (Rome Boulevard) gage. Residents and landowners in these areas are urged to take necessary precautions. The forecast for today calls for a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7 AM, with mostly cloudy skies gradually clearing to sunny conditions.

The high will be near 52 degrees with northwest winds gusting up to 20 mph. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 27 degrees and north winds around 10 mph, also with gusts up to 20 mph. Friday will bring mostly sunny skies and a high near 55. Forecasters are also monitoring another storm system expected to bring heavy rainfall and scattered thunderstorms to the area from late Saturday into Sunday.

There is a risk for severe storms associated with this system, and river flooding may linger through the weekend into early next week.