Flint River (Apalachicola River)
| Flint River | ||
 Map of the Apalachicola River System with the Flint River in dark blue |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 358207 | |
| location | Georgia (USA) | |
| River system | Apalachicola River | |
| Drain over | Apalachicola River → Gulf of Mexico | |
| source | in Fulton County, 33 ° 39 ′ 44 " N , 84 ° 25 ′ 24" W. |
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| confluence | with the Chattahoochee River in Lake Seminole to the Apalachicola River Coordinates: 30 ° 42 '29 " N , 84 ° 51' 47" W 30 ° 42 '29 " N , 84 ° 51' 47" W |
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| Mouth height |
23 m
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| length | 240 km | |
| Catchment area | 22,500 km² | |
 Jim Woodruff Dam |
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The Flint River is about 240 km long river in the state of Georgia in the southeast of the United States of America . It has a catchment area of around 22,500 square kilometers in western Georgia. It flows from the Piedmont region south of Atlanta into the wetlands of the state's coastal region. Together with the Apalachicola and the Chattahoochee Rivers , the Flint River forms the catchment area of the so-called ACF river system .
course
The Flint River rises in southern Fulton County on the edge of the metropolitan area of Atlanta and initially runs underground below the runways of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport . On the surface, the Flint flows south through rural Georgia, crossing Sprewell Bluff State Park . Further downstream he passes the historic prison from the Civil War in Anderson ( Andersonville National Historic Site ). In southwest Georgia, the Flint River is dammed above Albany to Lake Blackshear , after which it flows through downtown Albany, the largest city on the river. Other tributaries of the Flint River are the Kinchafoonee Creek and Ichawaynochaway Creek , which flows into the Flint in Mitchell County . At Bainbridge it flows together with the Chattahoochee River into Lake Seminole , a reservoir formed by the "Jim Woodruff Dam" not far from the Florida border . The Apalachicola leaves the lake in a southerly direction and finally flows into the Gulf of Mexico .
Until the Jim Woodruff Dam was built, the Flint River was navigable as far as Bainbridge. Today the river is a rarity among the American rivers because of its unchanged course above Lake Blackshear. The Flint River is one of only 40 rivers in the country that runs for more than 300 kilometers unobstructed and unblocked. In the 1970s, the US Army Corps of Engineers planned to build another dam at Spreewell Bluff in Upson County . The then governor of the state Jimmy Carter prevented this project. His hometown of Plains is not far from the natural course of the Flint River .
nature and environment
The river is divided into three main sections, in the upper part of the river in the Red Hills of the Piedmont it flows through a deeply grown canal in crystalline rock. To the south of the fall line, not far from Culloden , the Flint River widens and becomes a floodplain lined with forests and swamps . Below Lake Blackshear, the river changes once more and flows through a narrow bed of limestone above the aquifer that extends from Florida into southern Georgia.
Floods have been common in the history of the Flint River. In 1994, during the flooding caused by tropical storm Alberto, the state's worst natural disaster to date occurred on the Flint River. 23,000 people from Albany had to be evacuated because of the floods, Interstate 75 was closed and Albany State University was flooded . The water partially pushed coffins out of the earth and left them in the trees along the course of the river together with drowned cows and cattle when the floods receded. Other significant floods occurred in 1841 and 1925.
In January 2002 there was a leak in the airport during a winter storm. De-icing fluid got into the river. Nobody was harmed by the agent that got into drinking water via the river, but the airport made some efforts to avoid the problem in the future.
Individual evidence
- ^ Flint River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- ^ Flint River article at the New Georgia Encyclopedia