Recap: Flash flooding Wednesday evening on the Downtown Connector

I’m receiving a lot of comments saying something like “Flooding?! I didn’t even get any rain at my house!”

Yep, not a drop fell at the Atlanta Airport, and not a drop fell at Truist Park near the Perimeter.

This storm was *highly* localized, and it focused on a 2 mile by 4 mile spot right over the Downtown Connector.

At its widest, the storm spanned 4 miles, from the Georgia Aquarium to the Fernbank Museum.

At its narrowest, the storm spanned 2 miles from I-20 near Boulevard/Zoo Atlanta to North Avenue near the Fox Theater.

Just like you, this storm was parked over I-75/I-85 and I-20 for nearly 2 hours (3:30pm to roughly 5:30pm), producing over 3 inches of rain.

By the way -- flooding like this has happened before! My sister experienced this in June 2025. The Georgia Aquarium flooded in September 2023 due to localized heavy rain.

@tillery_09

Georgia Aquarium flooded today while we were visiting but the staff did an OUTSTANDING JOB on evacuating everyone, keeping everyone safe and they gave everyone free tickets for another visit of a day of their choosing by 12/31/24. So a full refund for every person and child!! W/o anyone needing to ask. The weather and flooding was very BAD in ATL today. Something way out of their control! Again the staff were amazing during this incident!! i do not want anyone bashing the staff or my homestate Aquarium! #georgia #georgiacheck #fyp #gaaquarium #georgiagirl #flooding #aquarium #ATL #atlantageorgia #georgiaaquarium

♬ All I Do - Kanin & Glenwood!

But all of this pales in comparison to the September 2009 Flood when I-20 was underwater for hours. As much as 8 to 12 inches of rain fell in 24 hours from Douglasville to Lilburn that day!

Remember, floodwaters are impactful and powerful! It only takes 6 inches of rushing floodwaters to knock a person off their feet. A mere 12 inches of water can lift a small vehicle, and 18 to 24 inches can float a large truck.

Through it all, we have live traffic and weather updates on 95.5 WSB Radio, so keep us on in the car whenever you are traveling through Metro Atlanta.

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