ATLANTA — Heavy rains moved over the metro Atlanta area and greater north Georgia region this morning, bringing a flash flood watch and threatening severe traffic situations.
The rains have mostly moved past the area, but the wet roads remain.
I-85 North at Cleveland Ave. south of the city was completely stopped with two firetrucks blocking lanes, though lanes have now reopened.
One serious situation developed on I-20 East, which shut the interstate for hours before it reopened around 8 a.m.
The interstate was completely shut down after a wreck near Panola Road, and traffic was diverted off the interstate at Exit 71 there.
11Alive Traffic Tracker Crash Clark recommended Covington Hwy./Hwy. 278 or Flat Shoals Road as an alternate.
In DeKalb County, Buford Highway's northbound lanes are closed at Beverly Hills Dr., apparently due to a structure fire.
GDOT issued this alert around 7:30 a.m.: "There is a structure fire on State Route 13 Northbound at Beverly Hills Drive in Dekalb County. All northbound lanes are closed between Beverly Hills Drive and Chamblee Tucker Road. Emergency personnel are on scene. Motorists are urged to use an alternate route to avoid delays. For more information, please continue to check Georgia 511 or www.511ga.org."
There also appears to be an issue on I-75/85 North just before they split in Midtown, with police lights visible on traffic cameras on the right shoulder.
Crash is also reporting there were a couple smaller situations on I-75, one in the southbound direction at Hwy. 5 and another in the northbound direction at Delk Road.
11Alive's Maura Sirianni says she's seeing a lot of water on the roadways:
Additionally, there was a wreck on I-285 West near Hwy. 41 that had all lanes blocked and was having traffic diverted. That appears to have since opened back up.