Latest news, weather and high school sports for Albany and Southwest Georgia

ALBANY, GA --
With the heavy rains making their way through Southwest Georgia, people have been emailing, calling, and posting to Facebook asking when will the rain end, how will it affect the drought and expressing their concerns about the possibilities for flooding.

According to Meteorologist Mike Morrison, we have received 2.38” of rain at the station and 2.73” at Southwest Georgia Regional Airport over the last day, with a total of 4.2” so far for the month.

Morrison adds that the rain will put a dent in the drought for February, but the Climate Prediction Center’s three month outlook is showing a chance that our area will be below average in precipitation through April.

Despite the drought, Lee County Fire Chief James Howell says he and his crews will be monitoring the rivers and creeks after the large amounts of rainfall.

Howell believes the county is “in pretty good shape” because of the drought conditions they had been in. “We can stand to take a little bit of water,” said Howell. Officials say the Kinchafoonee Creek isn’t too much of a cause for concern until it gets up to about 15 or 16 feet, which is expected to happen on Friday.

The Flint River in Albany was most recently at 7.75 feet as of the most recent report from the United States Geological Survey. The flood stage for the Flint in Albany is 26 feet.

While river flooding is on people's minds, localized street flooding is happening across Albany.

Dougherty County dispatch has confirmed a list of localized flooding reports called in from around the county Monday:

400 block of Flint
800 block of West Oglethorpe
1900 block of South County Line road
900 block of Lincoln
2200 block of Gillionville
Cleveland and 2nd Avenue
1900 block of Linwood
700 block of 8th Avenue
2200 block and 2300 block of Tompkins Avenue
900 block of West 4th Avenue
Philema and Jefferson

Have weather pictures? Email them to weather@wfxl.com! Stay connected to MySouthWestGA.com as stories develop and the FOX 31 Newscast at 10 PM. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter to join in on the conversation and connect with FOX 31!