First came Debby, then Helene. Now, in the latest weather disaster of 2024, an unnamed storm front that dropped from six inches to a foot of rain Wednesday evening and Thursday morning has washed out roads and necessitated several water rescues from homes in Bulloch County.

“We have over 20 roads that are completely closed,” Bulloch County Public Works Director Dink Butler said Thursday evening, “between 20 and 25. That continues to increase here over the last two hours. We have 65 roads so far that we have responded to with water over the road.”

As previously reported, Bulloch County Schools officials, in coordination with the county public safety and emergency management agencies, have simplified matters by closing all unpaved roads to school buses for the ride home on Thursday afternoon and all day on Friday. But schools remain open and the school system has reverted to the alternative bus transportation plan that many families are familiar with from the days after the previous storms.

Downpours Wednesday and Thursday inundated Bulloch and Screven counties with an estimated 8 to 10 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Several provinces were warned of flash flooding from Thursday morning until late in the evening.

Traffic had to be diverted from I-16 near Statesboro after all westbound lanes were closed due to flooding, the Georgia Department of Transportation said on its website.

The Public Works Department, which includes road crews, will evaluate the roads this weekend and help advise school officials on their decisions for next week, Butler said.

“In addition, we had four high water rescues today, so it was a challenging day,” he added, noting that the fire department and sheriff’s office conducted the rescues.

The rescue efforts took place Thursday from about 8 a.m. to almost 4 p.m. All were in the area around Sinkhole Road, not far from Highway 46 in the southern part of the county, according to descriptions from Chief Ben Tapley of the Bulloch County Fire Department.

Emergency Medical Services personnel, who responded to a medical call on Bohler Lane around 8 a.m., reportedly discovered flooding throughout their patient’s home, proceeded to the address on foot and attempted to find an alternate way to take the patient to the ambulance. But a BCFD battalion chief from Battalion 1, Register, came to assist with a fire truck.

“You know we respond to all ambulance calls as well, but they asked for the battalion chief,” Tapley said. “It’s a (Ford) F-250 with four-wheel drive, sitting high above the ground. He drove back in and helped take the patient to the ambulance.”

At 10:28 a.m., firefighters attempted to rescue a person trapped in a home on Sinkhole Road but determined that rushing water made a ground rescue too risky, Tapley summarized from an incident report. They discovered that the Statesboro Fire Department’s Tower 1 truck was in the area where a similar situation occurred and was waiting for Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office personnel to bring their boat. To respond to another call, provincial firefighters left the rescue to BCSO personnel when they arrived by boat, his summary said.

Another BCSO battalion chief, responding to a call to a home on Sam Tillman Road at 11:09 a.m., found a man and two children unable to leave the home due to high water and took them to a corner store on the highway.

Then at 3:43 p.m., the BCFD responded to a call to the road called Kozy Korner in the same area, where a family member requested help moving a hospice patient from the main floor to a higher part of their home as the water rose.