When It Rains, It Pours

Man, I had so many cliche sayings ready for the title of this post but couldn't pass up the good ol "when it rains, it pours"! We are safe and sound and back to normal. It's been quite the trip so far!

So the rest of the day yesterday it only got worse and worse. It was crazy here! Basically, all of our area (northwest of Atlanta) is just really really hilly. I don't know if all of Georgia is like that, but for our area and the surrounding areas it lead to flash flooding and muddy, mucky, high water madness. We were getting word from neighbors how high the water was getting, and was spreading further and further out from the initial one bridge down the street that went under water. By late afternoon, the TV was showing pictures of our only road out (Columns Rd.) 4-6 feet under. We were seeing pictures from neighbor's phones of the water and it was raging! The Chattahoochee was the main culprit, which runs along Columns Rd. - and the multi million dollar houses that sit on the banks were getting hit hard.

Early evening we were getting accounts of chest high water and it was clear the whole length of the road was under, about two miles long. One neighbor made it through the high water around noon and tried to get back in around 1 or 2. She heard the water gurgling up in the air vents in the cab of her truck and tried to turn around. She ended up finding high ground in someone's yard and parked and was going to wade through. Scary I know. She claims her military experience was how she was going to make it through, but she said the current was so strong and soon the waist high water was chest high and she was very scared. (This is how people get swept away and die! I don't know why people think they should try to make it.) She was rescued by a civilian in a canoe and taken to higher land. Then she proceeds to go with a few others to try to hike in to the condos. Like I said, the land is really hilly around here and a National Forest surrounds the area - so they came in through the back, hiking two miles to get back to the complex. Sounds horrible to me! Half of the complex lost power (NOT US!!) and she was on that half. Poor gal!

Other accounts were of people losing their back yards to the raging water. We ran into family friends out at dinner tonight that said they lost 12 feet of back yard and their in-ground pool was almost completely exposed - and totally jacked up by the way. You may have heard the rest on the news...schools flooding, businesses under water, the deaths, roads washing out, people stranded everywhere. We were worried we would be stuck for a couple of days, but that was the extent of our problems. Others were in such worse situations and SO close to home, it was very somber and unfortunate.

The Chattahoochee rose 12 feet in 24 hours in our area and creeks and rivers broke crest records from as far back as 1919. I heard someone say it's a 100 year flood plane so I guess they'll be good for the next 100 years. This morning as soon as we woke up Josh, Joseph and I headed out to see what we could see. There was no rain in our area overnight. Thank God. The first and closest low water area was clear and dry. Then we turned out of the complex on to Columns Rd and it was dry. I couldn't believe as fast as it flooded, it receded. There was people out milling around coming to check it out also. Cars seemed to be getting through so we starting asking people what they heard about it. They were saying you could get half way down the two mile road, then were cutting up through another neighborhood that was high and dry b/c at the end of Columns the river was still covering the road. We walked around and took pictures and marveled at the power of the water. The Chattahoochee was wide and flowing fast and was overflowing to the road in some areas, but not covering it. There were huge trees and all that woody debris that accompanies floods but the bridge was intact! There were many houses that already had their water pumps pumping out their basements (and first floors perhaps??) and people were raking their yards. They don't waste any time! There were AT&T and power company vans out, landscaping vans and those water damage restoration vans everywhere. So things should be back to normal soon.

The sun was out almost all day. This place is really beautiful with sunlight! Hopefully mother nature will give us a break and chill out on the rain. Of course down river was still rising this morning, even with no rain - since it's catching all the downstream flow. I'm glad it's over and everyone can get back to normal. Sheesh, what a day. But I had Mexican food for dinner and the internet is back up so I am good to go. ;)