Rainfall causes flooding in low areas

A torrential rain Monday night caused light to moderate flooding in low-lying areas of Hartselle and central Morgan County.
Rainfall measured five inches in the city with most of it falling between midnight Monday and daylight Tuesday.  The Cotaco area also reported five inches while Huntsville reported 3.5 inches.
“We definitely dodged a bullet,” Mayor Dwight Tankersley said. “We got a report of a 5-inch rain gage running over at the new Cracker Barrel construction site. With that much rain, it could’ve been worse.”
Public Works Superintendent Byron Turney said he called out a work crew at about 4:30 a.m. to deal with flash flooding at Main and Corsbie Streets, Railroad and Franklin Streets, Mitwede Street and Highway 31.
A small amount of water was reported in two commercial buildings, Cahoots on Main Street and Hartselle Sporting Goods on Highway 31 South, according to Tankersley.
A report from Bill Thomison of the Morgan County Emergency Management Agency indicated that reports of flash flooding came from several other parts of the county.   They included Hobb Ward Road off Highway 36 and Gum Springs Road in District 2, Cedar Lake Road and Country Club Road in Decatur, and Magnolia and Corsbie Streets in Somerville.
The rain comes almost exactly a year after Hartselle was inundated by 6 inches of rain overnight, causing major flood damage to several businesses in the Central Business District.