Villa Rica officials were working furiously Monday to fix the damage caused by massive amounts of overnight rain, but the chore was made more difficult as rain continued to fall throughout the day.

Villa Rica utility crews began monitoring the rain and possible flooding around 11 p.m. Sunday and the first major flooding began at midnight. Shortly thereafter, a report came in that the West Wastewater Treatment Plant was under 4 feet of water. Four hours later, the Water Treatment Plant was also flooded and a boil water advisory was issued for the entire city until further notice.

“There’s not much we can do at either plant until the water levels drop,” Deputy City Manager of Utilities Eric Lacefield said.

Several roads also had to be closed due to erosion or being completely under water, more than half a dozen water lines broke and trees were down in some places.

“We’ve had a lot of city employees who have been out working all night,” Lacefield said Monday.

At the wastewater treatment plant and the water treatment plant, the water simply overflowed the banks of the nearby tributaries of the Little Tallapoosa River. The rushing water overflowed the clarifiers at the wastewater plant, leading to solids being released from the plant and what is being termed a “major spill.”

“It was just too much wat er and the creek banks couldn’t hold it all in,” Lacefield said. “I’m sure it’s a major spill by EPD standards, but there wasn’t anything we could do. It was all mother nature; we couldn’t stop the creek from overflowing. It was just an awful lot of rain in a short amount of time.”

Flooding also occurred at the North Wastewater Plant — though not as severe — and the new road into the plant was damaged when a 12-inch water line in the area completely came apart.

At the water treatment plant, the “clear water” tank that holds the treated water was submerged and more than 7 feet of water filled the tank. Water also came into the plant’s control building. One man on the scene said the only other time he had seen the clear water tank overflow was during Hurricane Opal in 1995.

Under the boil water advisory, it is recommended that drinking water be boiled for at least a minute, with the same standard for making ice, brushing teeth, cooking or bathing of infants.

City officials expect the boil water advisory to be lifted within days, but until the rain slackens and allows the damage to be fully assessed they said it would be difficult to determine the length of the advisory. The well was being pumped Monday and it would then need to be disinfected and tested.

“I’m hoping that it will only be days,” Lacefield said. “Once the water subsides, we’ll have to assess any damage to the plant’s systems.”

Though the issues at the water plant may only take days to fix, repairs to some of the roads and water lines that were damaged could take even longer.

Temple reported similar issues, though on a much smaller scale.

“We’re trying to keep up with the inflow,” Public Works Director Sam Russell said. “There was just so much water at one time that my lift stations are just having to pump 24 hours a day to keep up with the flow. As far as I know I haven’t visibly seen any breach of my system.”

Russell said parts of Villa Rosa Road and Old Bremen Road began to wash out due to erosion on Monday, but crews were working to shore those roadways up for safe travel.

There have not been any water line breaks in Temple, though Carroll County has had a few and because Temple gets its water from Carroll County Water Authority the water has had to be cycled from one side of town to the other to keep things moving.

“We’re trying to maintain,” Russell said. “We haven’t had it as bad as some other places. We’re just trying to hang in there and keep up with the hazardous conditions.”

Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour reported that Sunday night and Monday morning his department worked 18 weather-related car accidents, including 14 on the interstate. His advice for those traveling in the rain is to keep their vehicle’s speed under 55 miles per hour to avoid hydroplaning, which occurred in many of the accidents where standing water was on Interstate 20 between Villa Rica’s two exits.