Atlanta is Washing Away
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| Tue, 09-22-2009 - 8:37am |
I was able to make it to work today only because I made it across the Yellow River bridge before the river finally topped the bridge and flooded the road. Yesterday I couldn't get to work at all because a mudslide covered the road I travel. Whether I get home tonight or not will be up to Mother Nature.
My DH left for work at 7:30 this morning and he's still on the road trying to find a passable way to get there.
It's been a mess here. While we've seen some flooding in the past, it's been nothing like this. Roads are blocked everywhere, houses are flooded (fortunately I live on a hill), bridges and roads are washing away, schools are closed, trees are falling due to ground saturation and at least 6 people have died. And it's supposed to rain again today.
I live about a mile and a half from the Yellow River, which is normally no more than a few inches to maybe 2 feet deep at the most. We often wade around in it in the summer. It is now a raging torrent that is said to now be over 20 feet deep in some places.
While I sat home yesterday watching the rain pour down and keeping an eye on our local weather it's funny that I didn't think about the economy, the President, healthcare or much else except what was going on right around me. It's amazing how quickly things can be put into perspective when bad is going on in your own backyard.


I've been watching the media coverage of this flood.
I hope both you & Sweetpea will be safe & staying dry.
Death toll rises to 8 in Southeast floods
ATLANTA — The death toll in Southeast flooding has reached eight after rescuers found the body a 15-year-old boy in northwest Georgia after days of heavy rain turned docile creeks into surging rivers and rivers.
The teen's body was found in the Chattooga River on Tuesday morning.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency also reported a new death in Douglas County west of Atlanta, bringing the toll in that county to four people. No more details were immediately available.
Other victims have included a 2-year-old boy who was swept away from his family when a creek ripped open their west Georgia mobile home Monday.
Aerial shots showed schools, parking lots and even entire neighborhoods submerged by the deluge, sending some unlucky residents scurrying for higher ground.
More...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igyXc-4XxCFyBa_vJSPGbYlcO3mwD9ASCGBG1
I've seen the coverage too. What's up with Atlanta? My friend is moving there in November and she's freaking out.
Stay safe!
I'll be the first to say I hate the weather here. When it's nice, it's nice. When it's bad, it's horrible. We get a little bit of everything - drought, flood, ice storms, snow, tornados, heat, cold - you name it.
About a week ago I remember saying to someone "we haven't had any rain for while."
Holy mackerel xox!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/09/22/atlanta.weather.science/
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A year ago, y'all were coping with drought. A measure of weather moderation would be nice, wouldn't it?!
My brother, his wife, and their son live in Doraville. I haven't heard from them. Sure hope they're alright.
Jabberwocka
At least 10 deaths in Georgia and Alabama were blamed on the torrential downpours in the Southeast. The storms finally relented and relief was in sight with just a slight chance of rain Wednesday, but the onslaught left many parts of the region in stagnant water.
The latest victim, Richard Butler, 29, drowned after his car was apparently washed off a road near a creek Tuesday night in suburban Douglas County, west of Atlanta, county spokesman Wes Tallon said.
Most deaths were from drowning when cars were swept off roadways. Authorities released a 15-minute 911 call of a storm victim's last moments. Seydi Burciaga, 39, screamed to a dispatcher as water rose to her neck. The dispatcher advised her to try to break a window, but she couldn't.
"I don't want to drown here, please!" Burciaga said.
Boy drowned in search for victims
Eddie Stroup, an investigator with the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office in northwest Georgia, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that 14-year-old Nicholas Osley drowned when he and a friend saw a Jeep in the water and dove in to see if there were any people who needed help. The current from the nearby Chattooga River swept them away, Stroup said. The friend survived.
In Tennessee, a man was still missing after jumping into the fast-moving water as part of a bet.
Seeing the raging torrents of the rivers around me was a frightening experience. To see a passive little river that is normally a foot or two deep at the most suddenly turn into a monster is scary. We used to love the river near our home and spent a lot of time around it and even in it, but I will never feel the same way about it again.
Please remember to never, EVER drive through a roadway that is covered with moving water. You can't tell how deep it is or how fast it's going. If you could have seen the torrent of water in these rivers it's not hard to imagine it rising above a bridge or over a roadway and sweeping cars away as if they were toys.
Tell your children the dangers of fast moving water. It may look like kayaking water, it may look like fun. It's not. I knew that beneath that churning water were huge rocks, trees and stumps and debris and currents that swirled with the power of a thousand washing machines on the spin cycle. No human has the strength to survive that. They'd be beaten to death by
Some of my post was cut-off.
I feel for you and your family.