September 22, 2009

By Mike Morris, Megan Matteucci and Katie Leslie

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Eight people, including a toddler, were killed after heavy rains flooded many parts of metro Atlanta and north Georgia.

Rescuers found a victim Tuesday morning in Chattooga County, the seventh storm fatality in Georgia. It has not been confirmed, however, that the body found Tuesday is one of two missing teenage boys who attempted to rescue a trapped motorist and were swept away. One of the teens was rescued.

Photo: A home in the 2400 block of Brooks Drive in Austell is submerged in flood water Monday. Most of metro Atlanta was under a flash flood warning Monday morning after a foot or more of rain flooded homes, businesses and roadways. Emergency personnel in at least two counties were busy rescuing residents from high water before daybreak Monday. (John Spink / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Four deaths occurred in Douglas County, with Gwinnett and Carroll also reporting fatalities.

A 2-year-old died in Carroll County after heavy rain washed his family's trailer away. Carroll County Sheriff Terry E. Langley confirmed that Preston Slade Crawford's body was found Monday afternoon about a mile from his home, in some debris near the road.

Carroll County firefighters were called to Crawford's mobile home on Horsley Mill Road in the western part of the county around 2 a.m. Monday after excessive rain caused nearby Snake Creek to rise.

"The creek is usually about 2-3 feet deep, just enough to wade in," Langley said Monday afternoon. "This water was now over 20 feet deep. It was really a powerful thing."

When firefighters and deputies arrived, they found the boy's mother holding a 1-year-old and clinging to a tree. His father was several yards down stream, holding on to another tree, Langley said.

Preston had already washed down the creek, his parents told deputies.

Photo: Tanqueray Clark, 31, right, and Tony Cameron, 53, remove some of Clark's more expensive belongings from his home. Cameron, who once looked at owning the house with his wife, saw the house submerged in water while he was driving home and says he just couldn't stop. Clark, who has owned this home for two years, calls the flooding an "act of God." He did not know Cameron before today. (Elissa Eubanks / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Dozens of deputies and firefighters were able to rescue Preston's parents and younger sibling after anchoring a rope to a tree.

"It was a two and a half hour to three hour rescue because the current was so strong," Langley said. "With four people in the water, we're lucky we don't have four fatalities."

The parents and baby were treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and have since been released. They are staying with family, the sheriff said.

Carroll emergency officials also rescued about a dozen other people from flooded homes and cars, including one woman whose car washed away while she was driving, Langley said.

Two men and two women died in Douglas County in separate incidents, officials said.

In each case, Douglas Sheriff Phil Miller said the driver was trying to cross flooded roadways.

Douglas sheriff's spokesman Wes Tallon said a man's body was found downstream from where a car was swept into a creek on North Helton Road. WSB-TV is reporting a second man, identified as 29-year-old Kevin Hodges, was found along Banks Mill Road.

Photo: A flooded SUV is shown in a rain soaked creek near Douglasville, Ga. , Monday, Sept. 21, 2009. Heavy rain caused flooding in and around Atlanta. (AP)

Also in Douglas County, five or six people have been reported missing, including a mother and two children, according to authorities.

A Gwinnett County woman has also died. Seydi Burciaga, 39, was driving on Desiree Drive near Lawrenceville Highway in the unincorporated Lawrenceville area around 5 a.m. when her van was swept into a rain-swollen creek. Firefighters arrived to find the area under several feet of water with one motorist standing on the roof of his car to escape the deluge, said Gwinnett fire spokesman Capt. Thomas Rutledge.

A swift-water rescue team deployed an inflatable boat and firefighters on foot also used a rope system to help them navigate the rising tide as they waded in to search for the woman. They found her deceased inside the van, Rutledge said.

Relatives told authorities that they had been on the phone with Burciaga during her ordeal and relaying information about her condition and location to 911. However, they eventually lost contact with her, Rutledge said.

Albert Lester, who lives two houses up from the swollen creek, said he saw the van drive past at a fast pace just before it hit the water.

"I saw her coming and wondered why she didn't brake or anything," Lester said. "I heard her hit (the water). She didn't have a chance."

Lester said this is the second time he has seen the creek rise this high in his 33 years in the neighborhood.

Photo: Danny and Cheryl Pearson of Powder Springs check out a flooded Dallas Road between Angham Road and Finch Road near their house. They said they had never seen it this bad. (Bob Andres / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

A next-door neighbor, Chad Sullivan, 28, said Burciaga had a husband and two kids, a girl and boy who appeared to be about 4 or 5 years old.

Burciaga was swept away just a few feet from the front door of Emanuel Istudor, 26, who lives adjacent to the creek on Desiree Drive. There are no street lights on that stretch of the road. With heavy rain, visibility would have been practically nil, Istudor said.

"You'd think it was a puddle if you were driving with no visibility at 4 a.m., but it was really six feet of water," Istudor said.

He said that water was knee-deep on the first floor of his house at 4 a.m. when he and his parents woke up, and cars were floating in the front yard. The family pushed the cars into the street to block people from attempting to drive on it and then left at 5:15 a.m. to get to higher ground.

"We feel horrible, but there was nothing we could do," Istudor said.

Neighbors said Burciaga was coming home from her job at a local Sam's Club store when the incident occurred.

Staff writers Christian Boone, Kristi Swartz, Nancy Badertscher and Andria Simmons contributed to this article.

http://www.ajc.com/news/seven-dead-in-floods-142739.html

www.standeyo.com/NEWS/09_Earth_Changes/090922.GA.floods.html

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