Rockslide blocks Georgia road; Crews close area for safety

PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. — A rockslide left a road covered in rocks in Pickens County Tuesday night.

Crews cleared stone and mud from the road but say the danger isn't over yet.

The incident happened around 7 p.m. at Cove Road, one of the main roads east out of Jasper, up to Big Canoe and other subdivisions.

Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was there as engineers and city leaders were at the scene Wednesday morning to take a look. They decided it was too dangerous to open up.

Concrete barriers were placed in the area when a similar slide happened about 10 years ago, but they were no match for all of the rock and debris.

The city manager said they’re evaluating the road to see when they can safely reopen it.

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“We do not want to disturb what has fallen thus far. The geo-stabilization engineer and I did a preliminary assessment and he’s going to confer with his colleagues and hopefully today or tomorrow get back with me on some options,” City Manager Brandon Douglas said.

It will stay closed until they're sure more of the face won't crumble and fall, risking lives.

Officials said the cause of the landslide may have been the rain and weeks of wet weather.

“Taken unofficial opinion that weather of late has caused some integrity of the soils and what not to be compromised," said Brandon Douglas, Jasper City Manager.

The first job will be clearing the shoulder and replacing the barriers without making it worse.

There’s no estimate when the road will reopen or what may be needed to stabilize the ridge long-term, they want to keep it from falling again and prevent any more rockslides.

Cox Media Group