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A tractor operator hauls dirt away along the edge of Rae's Creek in Brynwood subdivision. The public works crews are widening Rae's Creek in an attempt to alleviate flooding that has plagued the area.BOB RIVES/STAFF

City tries to tame Rae's Creek

Web posted June 2, 1997

By Kelly Daniel
Staff Writer

Fingers still separate blinds, yank back curtains and part drapes. Eyes still peer out. Hearts still race, once in a while.

But the enemy doesn't come.

Maybe the great battle - the Brynwood subdivision vs. Rae's Creek - is won.

``We still glance,'' said Ethie Kulling, a Kipling Drive homeowner who learned through two floods to keep an eye on Rae's Creek. ``We just glance not as often.''

Rae's Creek is now a larger, and therefore less threatening, version of itself, with public works crews tearing apart the tributary that runs from Lake Olmstead to just shy of Wrightsboro Road - through some of Augusta's most-often flooded neighborhoods.

The long-hoped-for makeover means Rae's Creek will be wider and clearer and its banks lined with stones when crews finish the task they began in November. The $1.4 million project is on schedule, chugging toward a September end, said Robert Clements, an engineer with the Augusta-Richmond County public works department.

In the meantime, the almost unheard of is happening in Brynwood.

Homeowners relax when it rains now. They even lie in bed listening to the rainfall, rather than leaping up to look out in fear of flooding.

``It has not flooded at all since they've been back there, so it must be working,'' Ms. Kulling said. ``There's still that worry factor in there. But we're not getting up at 2 o'clock in the morning right now.''

The Great Flood of 1990, when most of Augusta was swamped, soaked homes throughout Brynwood especially on Chelsea Drive, which borders Rae's Creek. It wasn't uncommon to have homes filled with 23 inches of water then. September 1995 brought more of Rae's Creek into Brynwood homes, and again in March 1996, when heavy rainfall flooded much of Richmond County.

Other neighborhoods hard-hit by floods, such as the Rozella Drive area in south Augusta, still wait for work to be done on their troublesome creeks. But Brynwood residents are now happy, even though they grow weary of a detour around Ramsgate Drive, where a bridge is being lengthened and raised.

But that's a small quibble when residents are at last able to keep their cars in their driveways on Chelsea Drive when it rains. Donald Bossard, a three-time flood victim and Chelsea Drive resident since 1973, chuckles at that.

``We haven't had to move our cars up the hill,'' he said. ``Which we usually do when we get a rain. Everybody on the street, they start moving their cars up when we get a rain, up to Scotts Way.''

Yet no one is completely dropping his guard.

After all, no rains heavy enough to really challenge Rae's Creek have hit Augusta in 1997, as Mr. Bossard points out.

The most rain Augusta has seen in one day this year was 1.29 inches on Feb. 14 - a far cry from the 7-inch, one-day sopping in 1995 that brought Rae's Creek roaring from its banks once again.

``So that's what we're waiting for, a real rain to see what will happen,'' said Mr. Bossard.

And when the big rains fall, even Augusta Commissioner Jerry Brigham, whose district includes the flood-prone neighborhoods, isn't certain Rae's Creek won't invade again.

``I do believe that if we had a major, major rain, all we've done is caused the water to run off quickly,'' Mr. Brigham said. ``If we had rain like we did in 1990, I believe we'll have flooding.''

But, and this is what homeowners will watch closest, when Augusta gets its first multi-inch rainfall of the year, the creek should hold, Mr. Brigham said.

``With a regular rain, I don't think we'll have flooding,'' he said. ``Before, we'd have 3 to 4 inches (of rain) and we'd have problems.''

So, for now, residents like Ms. Kulling and Mr. Bossard will stay cautiously upbeat about their battle with the creek. Ms. Kulling and her husband, Bill, remain two of the more active voices in the neighborhood when it comes to the flooding. The couple even named their newborn daughter, Chelsea, after the street where they've spent so much energy worrying about neighbors.

Mr. Bossard and his wife, Johanna, ponder leaving Chelsea Drive, but know that as long as his street is pegged as a flood area, there'll be no buyers for their home. Instead, the Bossards take their daily walks down to where bulldozers dig away at Rae's Creek, watching the progress.

``I hope this satisfies it, I really do,'' Mr. Bossard said. ``We're happy so far with what they've done.''