Kelly Bomar Mayor of Ringgold

08/27/2026

08/25/2026

Official Statement from the Office of the Mayor

For Immediate Release: August 25, 2026

Today, our hearts are heavy in Ringgold as we join the world in mourning the loss of a true American icon, global treasure, and beloved music legend Dolly Parton.

While the world knew her for her extraordinary voice, timeless songwriting, boundless generosity, and joyful spirit, Ringgold will always hold a deeply personal piece of her story. On May 30, 1966, a young Dolly Parton walked into Ringgold First Baptist Church alongside the love of her life, Carl Dean, to say, "I do." They chose our small town because it offered them a quiet and sweet place to begin their journey together. Their marriage would go on to stand as a testament to devotion for nearly six decades.

Dolly’s connection to Ringgold remains a source of immense pride for our community. Every year, visitors travel to our city to see where that love story began, or to take a selfie with our Dolly mural. Her legacy inspired our town's annual "Dolly Day" festival and Dolly Dash, a celebration in which our neighbors come together in music and community spirit to honor the indelible mark she left on our home. Her grace, humility, and faith have always mirrored the very best of Ringgold.

Dolly Parton gave so much to the world, not only through her music, but also through her unwavering dedication to literacy, humanitarian work, and lifting others up. She taught us how to lead with a warm heart and leave the world better than we found it.

On behalf of the City Council and the residents of Ringgold, I offer our deepest condolences to the Parton and Dean families, her friends, and her millions of fans across the globe. Ringgold was honored to play a small role in her incredible life, and her memory will forever live in the heart of our town.

May she rest in peace.

08/21/2026

Thank you The Home Depot

‼️Downtown Ringgold Business Owners‼️

Home depot has just donated some supplies and equipment to help with cleanup from the flood. If you are a business owner that was affected by the storms last night, stop by Venue 7813 to pickup supplies.

08/21/2026

FYI

UPDATE: CHAPMAN RD IS OPEN

🚧ROAD CLOSURE🚧

Please avoid Chapman Rd between Canyon Trl and Hwy 41.

Ringgold Police Dept and City Works have shut down the road for flood damages, repair, and vehicle removal from the creek. The road will likely be closed most of the day.

Residents may access their homes from the north end of Chapman Rd.

08/21/2026

The data from last night’s storm explains why conditions escalated so rapidly across our system.

Radar Estimates (from News Channel 9 report): Storm cores dropped approximately 5.32 inches of rain in about 2 hours. That is a 500- to 1,000-year storm event possibly exceeding a 3.55 in/hr rate from 12:00am-1:00am especially.

Creek Impact: South Chickamauga Creek surged 8.49 feet in just 90 minutes (between midnight and 1:30 AM) according to NOAA. It's currently (as of 9:00am) 3 feet above normal.

Why the System Breached (I looked this info up online): When rainfall intensity exceeds 3 to 3.5 inches per hour, the ground hits total saturation. Soil infiltration effectively stops, converting nearly 100% of the rainfall into immediate surface runoff.

This creates a distinct lag effect. I observed that our stormwater systems held the initial volume through roughly 12:50 AM. However, as the massive surge of runoff from the upper watershed caught up, it completely overwhelmed capacity—leading to the system breaches reported in the downtown area starting around 1:05 AM.

08/21/2026

Final update (4:45 am): a brief narrative.

I was downtown around midnight monitoring the conditions. At approximately 12:20 a.m., I observed that the stormwater system downtown was handling the flow and staying within capacity as the heaviest rain began to ease, though water was over the road in several residential areas at that time.

By approximately 1:05 a.m., as upstream runoff continued to collect, reports indicated that the volume of water reached capacity in the detention areas, leading to overflow downstream that affected several downtown businesses. I also observed high water impacts in residential areas, including near Creekside Park.

Some of the significant damage occurred north on Hwy 41 near Rick Worley & Son and Greased Lightning, where fast-moving water displaced multiple dumpsters and damaged several vehicles.

We are continuing to monitor the situation as daylight comes.

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Update: flooding downtown in several businesses and greased Lightning area is severely flooded . (2:00)

Update: underpass is flooded (1:30am)

Update: so much water and things have backed up downtown. Things are flowing earlier but that much rain in such a short period of time has caused water to back up downtown. (1:15am)

12:20 am: Went downtown with Caleb Parker and our city manager Mark Vaughn - I believe all the drains were holding up for the most part. Some water across the road in other parts of town in residential areas. One spot of concern downtown. A lot of rain came down, so let's hope it holds up.

08/12/2026

🗳️ Qualification for city council special election was over at noon today. Caleb Parker was the sole qualifier for the unexpired term.

08/12/2026

🚨⚠️ ROAD CLOSURE 🚧

08/11/2026

FYI

08/11/2026

So today is day with Georgia Municipal Association & Engaging Local Government Leaders The older picture is back when I ran for city council in 2017, and the newer one was created with the help of AI 😆. I don't know if I'll make it by City Hall today, but I wanted to join the fun.

Do you have any selfies in front of City Hall? Post em up!