Atlanta Flood

[Ben E Lou]

Good luck, y'all. Some of the pics and quotes I'm seeing are downright scary.

"Carroll rescuers find 'people hanging from trees,
hanging onto their babies' as Snake Creek floods."

"Gwinnett County, GA police officials have asked
residents to stop calling 911 unless their life is in imminent danger."

" <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src="http://dr.coxnewsweb.com/www.ajc.com/content/message/index.js" ><\/script>'); /* ]]> */ </script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://dr.coxnewsweb.com/www.ajc.com/content/message/index.js"></script> <!-- Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:39:54 -0400 --> Toddler missing after home swept away (http://www.ajc.com/news/flooding-claims-lives-search-142739.html)"



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Two victims swept away trying to drive through floodwaters; a third person missing
Hundreds of roads are closed, official says; schools closed in at least four counties



http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs261.snc1/8817_136074787878_571317878_2526434_3595160_n.jpg


http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/31217425.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1253552689&Signature=1pnticF4gy06RWOFjI0x1jGIwSI%3D

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah...wtf is up with this???

[Ben E Lou]

My soul.

http://media.ajc.com/appmedia/photologue/photos/cache/20090921-112801-resize_large_width.JPG

[rjolley]

There was a mudslide on 78 near the Hugh Howell exit. Didn't know there was enough mud there to slide and close the highway.

Our power was out from 5a until around 10a. Was on my way out the door to find someplace to work from since my route to work, Hwy 78, was closed, when it came back on. I had just commented that it would be funny if the power came on right as I was walking out the door. I think my house may be bugged and the people have a sense of humor.

And right now? It's sunny outside. The calm before the next storm rolls through, I imagine.

[Lathum]

Hope everyone down there stays safe

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah...what lathum said...stay safe!

[Ben E Lou]

There was a mudslide on 78 near the Hugh Howell exit. Didn't know there was enough mud there to slide and close the highway.Wow. Me either. That's pretty close to where I lived in Tucker.

[WheelsVT]

Had a bike race in the pouring rain in Suches GA finishing at the top of Wolfpen Gap yesterday. I thought that rain was going to blow over by the time we started. Boy, was I wrong.

My 4yr old said on Saturday when the sun made a very brief appearance: "Look! God made the sun again!" It certainly feels like forever since there's been a dry day down here... and there's still another few days... or a week... of rain to go.

Weather forecast:


Sep 21 Today
Thunderstorms, accompanied by locally heavy rainfall at times. High 76F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Additional rainfall may reach one inch. Localized flooding is expected.

Sep 21 Tonight
Heavy thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.

Sep 22 Tomorrow
Showers and a few thunderstorms likely. High 77F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Sep 22 Tomorrow night
Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Low near 65F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Sep 23 Wednesday
Scattered thunderstorms possible. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s.

Sep 24 Thursday
Partly cloudy with a stray thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s.

Sep 25 Friday
Scattered thunderstorms possible. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s.

Sep 26 Saturday
Showers, maybe a rumble of thunder. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s.

Sep 27 Sunday
Cloudy with showers and thunderstorms.. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the low 60s.

Sep 28 Monday
Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

[gstelmack]

And it wasn't that long ago that everyone in the south was worried about the drought...

[ISiddiqui]

Maybe I can swim home from work today ;)

Wonder if the MARTA is going to turn into an underwater tunnel?

[miked]

My technician is out today as he lives in Douglas County and his home was flooded and the roads all closed near him. My in-laws (in Lawrenceville) had 6-8 inches of water in their basement. Our power was on and off this weekend, and our basement (on Thursday) picked up enough water to soak half the carpet. We had people come and try to detox it with hot water and other shit, and placed lots of our fans down there. Carpet will have to be torn up in a few months when we can afford to redo some things.

We have had it fairly easy from what I hear. Spaghetti junction was closed a good portion of the morning, people were reporting that it took them 2+ hours to get into work, and many people just stayed home. In typical Atlanta fashion, I expect every Kroger/Publix to be sold out of everything from water to batteries :D

[JonInMiddleGA]

And it wasn't that long ago that everyone in the south was worried about the drought...

And will be again within a week of the rain stopping.

[chadritt]

Im flying into Atlanta tomorrow for a week long trip, hows the situation with the airport looking? I assume some of my plans for the week are going to have to change but I am at least hoping to get into town.

[sterlingice]

In typical Atlanta fashion, I expect every Kroger/Publix to be sold out of everything from water to batteries :D

To be fair, that's true everywhere and not just Atlanta :D

SI

[ISiddiqui]

It's a good thing I went to supermarket yesterday! Crazy rain in downtown just now.

[fantom1979]

This is what I thought. Kept hearing about how Atlanta has a major water shortage. Hopefully this is the beginning of some normal rain for you guys.

[rjolley]

Well, the rain has returned to Stone Mountain. Wonder how long the lights go out this time...

[ISiddiqui]

If its what just happened to downtown a half hour ago, you will be pelted over there.

[rjolley]

Yep, I'm expecting the downtown rains. We're straight east of downtown and that seems to be the weather pattern here.

Where downtown are you? I work out of the former Equitable building.

[ISiddiqui]

I'm in the Sam Nunn Federal Center at Five Points Station. I'll be heading in your direction soon (straight east... in Decatur).

[larrymcg421]

Nothing too bad here in Dunwoody, but alot of people were out of work today.

[RendeR]

Wow, the entire south is getting whitewashed right now. I hope you all are safe and secure until this passes.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Getting kinda rough in places, downtown connector has reopened but now 575 is closed in both directions, showed a cop up to his chest in water crossing the median. Some kinda scary stuff at an Austell elementary school today, waited too long to start evacuating apparently & by the time they finished up water was waist deep there too (and some parents were pretty righteously pissed about it).

Here in Athens, it's been much less until the past few hours but now we're up to 8 inches since yesterday, but nothing like the 20+ inches over on the west side of ATL (Douglass, west Cobb, etc).

[Ben E Lou]

This is mind-boggling to me...from the AJC:

5:15 a.m. The DOT said that the I-285 bridge over the Chattahoochee River south of South Cobb Drive was under 5 feet of water, while 3 feet of water still covered the I-20 bridge over Sweetwater Creek in Douglas County. Flooding of I-575 at Ga. 92 in Cherokee County had receded, and inspectors planned to check that bridge after daybreak, according to the DOT.

The three years I lived in Cobb County, I used to get on I-285 at South Cobb and head south whenever I went home to Columbus. The Hooch didn't come up all that close to the bridge if I recall. How much higher than normal does it have to be to cover I-285 with 5 feet of water???

[Alan T]

This is mind-boggling to me...from the AJC:



The three years I lived in Cobb County, I used to get on I-285 at South Cobb and head south whenever I went home to Columbus. The Hooch didn't come up all that close to the bridge if I recall. How much higher than normal does it have to be to cover I-285 with 5 feet of water???


I used to live in that area, and my best guess is... alot! I honestly don't even remember the river being that close to the bridge. (unless it has changed in the 15 years since I left.)

In talking to an old school friend, my old house looks like it was high enough up that it has not been affected yet, but two houses down the street (right by the river) is pretty much a goner.

[Alan T]

Here is a photo from the highschool about 2 minutes from my house. Kell High School in cobb county. (Not where I went, it opened after I had already graduated and left for college)

http://media2.myfoxatlanta.com//photo/2009/09/21/092109_MariettaFlooding2_20090921163554_320_240.JPG

[Ben E Lou]

...I honestly don't even remember the river being that close to the bridge. (unless it has changed in the 15 years since I left.) ...Yes yes. This is my recollection as well. (And I left Cobb for the east side in '94, so it's probably been 15 years since I was on that particular bridge myself.)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

This thread brings up memories of the Great Flood of 1993 in our area. I remember rain, rain, and more rain. It never stopped. Sounds much like the situation in Georgia...........

Great Flood of 1993 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993)

[miked]

Welp, luckily I made it out of Midtown in time, as I heard the connector flooded and closed in parts yesterday. That was the good news. The bad news was that I was leaving early because my basement (that I just spent a few hundred trying save) flooded again, this time much worse...with my wife and father-in-law trying to bail to stop it to no avail. Our power went out at 4 and didn't come back until about 5am. And I live in civilization. It just so happens that cheap-ass GA Power only put one breaker for our entire 2 mile long street and the many side streets. So a tree took out some power lines 1.5 miles down the road, but because there are no sub-breakers, we lost power in the entire neighborhood. And there was flooding making it difficult for cleanup and utility crews to get there.

Looks like I'm leaving early to tear up some carpet today.

[Ben E Lou]

This thread brings up memories of the Great Flood of 1993 in our area. I remember rain, rain, and more rain. It never stopped. Sounds much like the situation in Georgia...........

Great Flood of 1993 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993)I remember that one quite well. I worked for Young Life then, and we took kids to Colorado every summer. We stopped at the Gateway Arch and went down by the riverfront every year--but not that year. I remember the water being just absurdly high, nearly up the stairs in front of the arch.

[ISiddiqui]

Interestingly, I got home to Decatur and it seemed like it was just a hard rain. Didn't see any evidence of flooding or anything like that. It seems the East side of the city definitely did not get hit nearly as bad as the West side.

[Ben E Lou]

:(


8:35 a.m.
Officials in Chattooga County confirm that a body found Tuesday morning was a missing teenager who was swept away Monday while trying to help a stranded motorist.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I-20 at Six Flags now closed, also 575 near the Cobb/Cherokee line.
DOT basically told everyone in the metro area to just stay home today

[ISiddiqui]

... and here I am posting at work ;).

My morning commute was actually not bad at all.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I remember that one quite well. I worked for Young Life then, and we took kids to Colorado every summer. We stopped at the Gateway Arch and went down by the riverfront every year--but not that year. I remember the water being just absurdly high, nearly up the stairs in front of the arch.

If you scroll down that Wiki page, there's actually a picture of the water coming up to the top of the stairs just as you describe. You may even be one of the people in that picture staring at the water. :)

[Ben E Lou]

If you scroll down that Wiki page, there's actually a picture of the water coming up to the top of the stairs just as you describe. You may even be one of the people in that picture staring at the water. :)
Heh. No, I'm not in that pic. That's actually higher than I remember it being when we went. I don't remember for certain what part of the summer it was, but Cobb Co. YL usually went some time in the mid June to mid July range.

[miked]

... and here I am posting at work ;).

My morning commute was actually not bad at all.

Yeah, I only live about 10 minutes away but it usually takes me around 20-30 in traffic (more on the 30 side)...but this morning breezed in.

[Alan T]

This is mind-boggling to me...from the AJC:



The three years I lived in Cobb County, I used to get on I-285 at South Cobb and head south whenever I went home to Columbus. The Hooch didn't come up all that close to the bridge if I recall. How much higher than normal does it have to be to cover I-285 with 5 feet of water???


THis is just a little south of the place we were talking about above. This is the picture from 285 at Bolton

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/cnishared/tools/shared/mediahub/03/22/27/slideshow_1272230_FLOODING_8.JPG

[Alan T]

I-20 at Six Flags now closed, also 575 near the Cobb/Cherokee line.
DOT basically told everyone in the metro area to just stay home today


Here is the scene at I-575, this was my old neck of the woods too, but I lived there when it was still "rural", which it hasn't been for quite some time now :)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/31274412.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1253628557&Signature=2GeRWtlwBzrimvxvYrJ2YpnlO3c%3D

[rjolley]

The east side of town where I am was hit hard. There was a mudslide on 78, the creek near my house overflowed and closed the bridge that goes over it and is still high. Also, the Yellow River near Lake Lucerne overflowed the bridge over it at 78 and closed it yesterday morning and this morning.

But yeah, I think the west side was worse. And there's rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.

[RendeR]

All you Flood-trapped folks stay safe and if you need anything at all please PM and I'll be glad to collect up stuff and send it down. I know things will be a mess during the cleanup period and god knows what you might run short of!

[Ben E Lou]

The east side of town where I am was hit hard. Yeah...I've seen some pretty scary pictures on Facebook from some of my buddies in Tucker.

[miked]

Man, about half-way done ripping up carpet in my basement. The underpads are just ridiculously soaked. Vacation fund is teh gone :(

[KWhit]

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00256/163026_Heavy_Rains__256605c.jpg

A roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is flooded on Tuesday in Austell.

[ISiddiqui]

Wow.

And amazing in downtown today, the sun came out and it was bright and beautiful. Such a change for yesterday.

[Izulde]

Seems like there's been a lot of rain a lot of places. I know here in NWA I feel like I'm in Seattle with how much rain we've had, day in and day out. Not too bad right now, though.

[Alan T]

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00256/163026_Heavy_Rains__256605c.jpg

A roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is flooded on Tuesday in Austell.


Holey moley.. is that the Great American Scream Machine? That looks like the Batman amphitheater next to it. (or whatever that is used for these days if no longer Batman)

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs211.snc1/7829_145135160862_616615862_3177463_2521521_n.jpg

[KWhit]

Holey moley.. is that the Great American Scream Machine? That looks like the Batman amphitheater next to it. (or whatever that is used for these days if no longer Batman)

Yeah, that's the Scream Machine.

[Karlifornia]

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00256/163026_Heavy_Rains__256605c.jpg

A roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is flooded on Tuesday in Austell.

If anyone watched Mr. Show, that coaster has got to be THE DEVASTATOR

[fantom1979]

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs211.snc1/7829_145135160862_616615862_3177463_2521521_n.jpg

Look at those cars on the ramp...

I think I would have a change of heart about getting on the freeway when I saw the lake down there.

[QuikSand]

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00256/163026_Heavy_Rains__256605c.jpg

A roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia is flooded on Tuesday in Austell.

Actually, that's a great concept for a coaster. A serious coaster that plunged underwater could be pretty badass.

[BishopMVP]

Actually, that's a great concept for a coaster. A serious coaster that plunged underwater could be pretty badass.How would you deal with the logistics of the impact velocity? Put the people/coaster inside a hard plastic shell? Only have the bottom of the coaster hit and spray people? Have something churning up the water and introducing enough air to massively reduce the impact? - you could at least have the coaster going through the equivalent of heavy misters - that ride would own in the summertime.http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs211.snc1/7829_145135160862_616615862_3177463_2521521_n.jpgIt's nice to see that even though the off-ramp leads to a traffic jam and a lake that cars are driving through, you still have the asshole in the black truck/SUV at the very bottom going through another small lake at speed - as evidenced by the water displacement - while crossing 3 lanes to merge.

[sterlingice]

There's always that one a-hole (or more)

SI

[digamma]

My step-mother is hopeful she can get back into her condo today. The road leading up to it has been closed since Monday, and there have been reports of water rising into the condos around her.

[RomaGoth]

It's nice to see that even though the off-ramp leads to a traffic jam and a lake that cars are driving through, you still have the asshole in the black truck/SUV at the very bottom going through another small lake at speed - as evidenced by the water displacement - while crossing 3 lanes to merge.

Maybe he was just too busy watching Kanye West up above the freeway. I know that I would find that very distracting.

[BishopMVP]

Maybe he was just too busy watching Kanye West up above the freeway. I know that I would find that very distracting.Somebody has to go save Eddie Murphy's head.
1041

[RomaGoth]

Somebody has to go save Eddie Murphy's head.
1041

...or Beyonce's.

[Recoil]

1-3 more inches expected to fall in the Atlanta area tonight.

[miked]

At least I have no more carpet to worry about getting soaked.