Flash Flood Watch

East Ridge and the surrounding area is under a flash flood watch until 6 p.m. Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities said that West Chickamauga Creek is above the 10-foot stage as of 6 a.m. and is expected to crest above 11 feet by Thursday. Minor flooding could occur.

The forecast for today calls for showers and possible thunderstorms before 1 p.m. Temperatures will begin falling to the mid-40s by Wednesday afternoon with a southwest wind of 10 to 20 mph. Wind gusts could exceed 30 mph.

On Wednesday night the rain could change to snow by the early morning hours of Thursday, weather service officials said. The chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Officials said little or no snow accumulation is expected.

There is a wind advisory in effect Wednesday until 1 p.m.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.