Serious and Deadly Flooding in Our Area

Dyre Straits · September 22nd, 2009, 08:46 AM

I'm not sure how many of the members here follow any of the weather news from the USA. But, today, in our area, we had some very, very bad flooding. Some people died. The damage in some places will take many weeks to repair and some may never get repaired at all as they are beyond repair.

The main river that runs through our metro area, the Chattahoochee River, has set a new record for cresting. The old record was set 90 years ago in 1919.

I also saw one small subdivision of houses under water. One large pickup truck was almost completely submerged...only about 3-4 inches of the roof could be seen above water. I also came upon a road that was washed out completely and had to take an alternate route. Many roads...including some Interstate roads...are closed for now.

I know many of the members here either play, or are fans of, soccer. I took some shots of one of the most active soccer complexes in our area here. Soccer has become quite popular and one of my nephews was an avid and very good player.

But, for today, and for the near future, no one will be playing on these fields. See the images below....

mkey · September 22nd, 2009, 09:36 AM

And they say there are no global climate changes. In my country the floods doubled in the last few years.

Sazabizc · September 22nd, 2009, 09:45 AM

There's been no real bad flooding where I live. But We did have about 8 or 900$ of our Gravel get washed away I guess that's country living. Those poor people I hope the water goes down soon.

**Regeneration** · September 22nd, 2009, 10:39 AM

And where I live there wasn’t any serious rain in the last years. Our local water source has depleted and now we have to buy water from other countries.

Dyre Straits · September 22nd, 2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Regeneration

And where I live there wasn’t any serious rain in the last years. Our local water source has depleted and now we have to buy water from other countries.

Over the last 3 years we have been in a hundred-year drought. Only 3 months ago was the drought lifted. And, our state of Georgia is in very contentious discussions with Alabama and Florida over the water from Lake Lanier...which is a man-made lake and provides the larger percent of the water for our metro area.

But, a judge recently ruled that we are getting water from this lake illegally, as, in his opinion, the lake was not originally built for human consumption purposes but for power generation. This decision is being appealed to a higher court for a ruling.

On my trip to Arizona in July, we were exposed to an arid area where water consumption is very, very conservative. Public toilets, for example, were automatically flushed just once per day. There was some "blue cube" placed in the toilets that was supposed to provide necessary hygienic protection so that flushing was not necessary.

But, as for this flood, they are predicting rain every day for the next week. I think I'M beginning to mildew!!

Bio Hazard · October 2nd, 2009, 09:31 AM

this is very bad news.Hope people are getting recovered from it or is it still on ?

Dyre Straits · October 2nd, 2009, 01:10 PM

The flooding is over with. We've had a few days of sunshine and very nice weather. But, those who had their homes and businesses damaged, or destroyed, by the flood are just now beginning the effort to get back on their feet.

The really, really sad part about this recovery effort is that, in almost all cases, the home owner's insurance does NOT include damage from flooding. It's in the policy as an exception. The Federal Flood Plain Maps are so out of date that only a small percentage of these people were required to have flood insurance.

So, many of those homes and businesses that were flooded may never be able to be repaired.

There have been photos in the newspapers of people who are tearing out drywall and insulation from the walls and ceilings of their homes in an effort to dry out the dwelling and make it possible to continue living in them.

I could write more, but, this should give you some idea of just how badly some...actually MANY people in this area have suffered.

And, now we hear of earthquakes and tsunamis destroying and killing even more people in Indonesia.

Cats777 · October 3rd, 2009, 12:52 AM

Is this in the Philippines? It doesn't look as bad as the Philippines.

Dyre Straits · October 3rd, 2009, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cats777

Is this in the Philippines? It doesn't look as bad as the Philippines.

If you're asking about the flooding in my area, no. It's in SE USA. Atlanta, GA area. What we had is a 500-year flood incident. Thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. There were 10 people who died.

But, you are right, what we have suffered here is not as bad as what has happened in the Philippines.