2009 — Sep 19-22, Downpours, Flooding, Greater Metropolitan Atlanta, GA — 10
— 10 Associated Press. “Death Toll At 10 As Southeast Floods Start to Ebb,” Sep 23, 2009.
— 10 USA Today. “Southerners Survey Damage After Floods,” Sep 22, 2009.
— 09 NYT. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” Sep 24, 2009.
— 09 Reuters. “U.S. Flood Damage in Georgia to Top $250 Mil.,” Sep 23, 2009.
— 08 ABC News. “Storms, Rain Turn Deadly In Georgia,” Sep 22, 2009.
— 08 Associated Press. “Avoid Atlanta! Floodwaters Claim 8 Lives.” Sep 22, 2009.
Alabama ( 1) (not included)
—>1 Associated Press. “Death Toll At 10 As Southeast Floods Start to Ebb,” Sep 23, 2009.[1]
Georgia (10)
— 10 State. NWS WFO Peachtree City, GA. Atlanta Floods 5th Anniversary, Sep 15-22, 2009.
—>10 State. NWS WFO Peachtree City, GA. The Epic Floods of 2009. 3-2-2010 modification.
— 9 State. NYT. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” 9-24-2009.
— 9 North GA. Reuters. “U.S. Flood Damage in Georgia to Top $250 Mil.,” 9-23-2009.
— 7 Blanchard tally of locality breakouts below.
Locality Breakouts
— 1 Carroll Co., Snake Creek, Sep 21. Drowning; flood “ripped open…mobile home”, boy, 2.[2]
— 1 Chattooga County, Chattooga River, Sep 22. Drowning; male, 15.[3]
— 5 Douglas County. NYT. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” 9-24-2009.
— 4 Douglass County. AP. “Avoid Atlanta!” 9-22-2009.
–1 Sep 22. Drowning; car washed off road, Richard Butler, 29.
–1 Anneewakee Creek, Sep 22 (body found). Drowning, female; flood swept car off road.[4]
— 1 Fulton Co., Atlanta, Desiree Dr., Sep 21. Car swept into creek; female, Seydi Burciaga, 39.[5]
Tennessee ( 1) (not included)
— 1 Location and date not noted. Male jumps into fast-moving flood water on a bet.[6]
Narrative Information
Sep 22, AP: “(Atlanta, GA) 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.
“(Atlanta, GA) Portions of interstate highways in the Atlanta area were closed to traffic because of flooding during Tuesday morning rush hour. The state Department of Transportation reported that a portion of Interstate 285, Atlanta’s perimeter highway, was closed in Cobb County at a bridge crossing the Chattahoochee River. The DOT says Interstate 20 is shut down in the Austell area at the bridge over Sweetwater Creek because of rising water. It says flooding has also closed the highway just west of Atlanta. In Cherokee County, I-575 was shut down at Highway 92 because of flooding. DOT spokeswoman Crystal Paul-Buchanan says the water there is receding but the road has not yet reopened. Elsewhere, the DOT says I-75 is closed at Big Creek in Houston County.” (Associated Press. “Avoid Atlanta!” Sep 22, 2009.)
Sep 23, AP: “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….
“Eddie Stroup, an investigator with the Chattooga County Sheriffs 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. Boats and trucks evacuated 120 residents from a retirement center as nearby creeks rose, and several hundred others were ferried from low-lying neighborhoods and motels to dry land.
“The devastation surrounding Atlanta was widespread. In Austell, about 17 miles west of downtown Atlanta, Sweetwater Creek overflowed its banks, sending muddy water rushing into a nearby mobile home park where several trailers were almost completely submerged….
“Just down the road, in the Mulberry Creek subdivision, large houses built just five years ago were partially underwater. Some residents tried to salvage anything.” (Associated Press. “Death Toll At 10 As Southeast Floods Start to Ebb,” Sep 23, 2009.)
Sep 23, Reuters: “ATLANTA, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Flooding in north Georgia that killed nine people caused $250 million worth of damage to property and tens of millions of dollars more damage to infrastructure, the state insurance commissioner said on Wednesday.
“Parts of the 1-20 interstate highway that runs through downtown Atlanta were closed through the Wednesday morning rush hour and at least 20 bridges, including some over the highway, appeared damaged, commissioner John Oxendine said….
“The flooding struck on Monday after days of rain that in some parts of Atlanta were the heaviest in the city in more than 100 years, according to state climatologist Pam Knox at the University of Georgia in Athens.
“Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue asked President Barack Obama on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency for Georgia….
The Chattahoochee river broke its banks and several smaller creeks and tributaries that snake through the city became raging torrents with water levels rising up to 20 feet (7 meters). In most cases the water quickly receded.” (Reuters. “U.S. Flood Damage in Georgia to Top $250 Mil.,” Sep 23, 2009.)
Sep 24, NYT: “ATLANTA — The death toll from the floods in Georgia rose to nine people as the waters continued to recede on Wednesday, and residents grappled with the damage that has destroyed their homes, uprooted their lives and shut down bridges and major roadways around the Atlanta area.
“Another body was found Tuesday evening in hardest-hit Douglas County. Richard Butler, 29, was swept from his car and died, like the other five victims from the county, as a result of flash-flooding, said Wes Tallon, the spokesman for the county’s emergency management agency….
“The county was hit by 21 inches of rain in a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday, knocking out the drinking water supply to most residents, and forcing others to boil their water….on Tuesday afternoon, the body of a woman was found in Douglas County after a flash flood from the Anneewakee Creek (usually two feet deep) overwhelmed the roadway, sweeping the car downstream.
“In Carroll County, about 5o miles west of Atlanta, Tim Padgett, the emergency management director, said that a 2-year-old boy died when his family’s mobile home was swept away by the fast-moving Snake Creek — about 18 feet higher than its normal level — and the father could no longer hold on to his son in the rush of the water….” (NYT. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” Sep 24, 2009.)
Georgia
NWS WFO: “Catastrophic flooding impacted the Atlanta metropolitan area September 15-22, 2009, as a result of multiple days of prolonged rainfall. A combination of ample moisture from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and topography enhancement produced heavy rains that fell faster than local watersheds could handle. At the height of the event, September 20-21, an estimated 10 to 20 inches of rain occurred in less than 24 hours. Historic flash flooding resulted, with flooded river basins remaining swollen for weeks. Numerous flood records were set, with some locations observing conditions exceeding the 0.2% chance of occurrence in a given year.
“The maximum 24-hour rainfall total for September 20-21, 2009, was 21.03 inches, observed at the Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority. The chance of any location in the Atlanta area receiving this amount of rainfall in any given 24-hour period is less than 0.01% annually.
“The epic flooding that occurred greatly impacted the community and economy. Initial property damage in Georgia was estimated at $250 million, but was eventually raised to $500 million. More than 20,000 homes, businesses and other buildings sustained major damage, including 16,981 residences. Unfortunately, 10 Georgia residents lost their lives during this event. Of those, 9 died during the overnight hours, and 8 died driving across flooded roads. Additionally, hundreds of people were rescued from their homes and vehicles. Portions of all major Atlanta-area interstates, including I-20, I-75 and I-85, were closed.
“The impact of the heavy rainfall to area creek and river systems lasted for weeks. There were 79 river gages that rose above flood stage, with 35% of those cresting above major flood stage. More than one third of the gages rose to never-before-seen levels. During the height of the event, 20 river gages went underwater and stopped reporting. In these cases high water marks were surveyed to determine the peak stage height. At Sweetwater Creek near Austell, Georgia, the new established record was 20 feet above flood stage and nine feet above the previous record crest. In Douglas County, the Dog River overtopped the USGS stream gage by 12 feet. In total, 28 new record crests were set, one of which was originally established in 1919. These swollen river basins resulted in damage to 21 Category One dams.
“Seventeen counties in Georgia received Federal Disaster Declarations, the majority of which were in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. The clean-up and rebuild process continued into 2010. As of September 2010, there were more than 16,000 requests and inquiries for federal aid.
“Improvements in forecast tools and availability of real-time data – such as flood inundation mapping and increased river gage density – should aid hydrologists, meteorologists and decision makers when the next big flood strikes.” (National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Peachtree City, GA. Atlanta Floods 5th Anniversary, September 15-22, 2009 (website). NWS, 9-13-2014 modification.)
USGS on Atlanta GA: “The epic flooding that hit the Atlanta area in September was so extremely rare that, six weeks later this event has defied attempts to describe it. Scientists have reviewed the numbers and they are stunning. “At some sites, the annual chance of a flood of this magnitude was so significantly less than 1 in 500 that, given the relatively short length of stream-gaging records (well less than 100 years), the U.S. Geological Survey cannot accurately characterize the probability due to its extreme rarity,” said Robert Holmes, USGS National Flood Program Coordinator. ‘Nationwide, given that our oldest stream-gaging records span about 100 years, the USGS does not cite probabilities for floods that are beyond a 0.2 percent (500-year) flood.’ ‘If a 0.2 percent (500-year) flood was a cup of coffee, this one brewed a full pot,” said Brian McCallum, Assistant Director for the USGS Georgia Water Science Center in Atlanta. “This flood overtopped 20 USGS stream-gages – one by 12 feet. The closest numbers we have seen like these in Georgia were from Tropical Storm Alberto in 1994. This flood was off the charts.’
“The rains returned water levels in the region’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Lanier and Allatoona Lake, to pre-drought levels. Lake Lanier rose by more than three feet to 1068 feet by Sept. 25 and returned to full pool in October. Allatoona Lake rose to 853.25 feet on Sept 23, more than 13 feet over full pool of 840 feet.
“ ‘The flooding in Atlanta is certainly near the top of the list of the worst floods in the United States during the past 100 years,” said Holmes. “For comparable drainage areas, the magnitude of this flood was worse than the 1977 Kansas City flood, which caused tremendous destruction and loss of life. It is a testament to the diligence of county officials and emergency management teams that more lives were not lost in Georgia.’….
“ ‘Applying rainfall frequency calculations, we have determined that the chance of 10 inches or more occurring at any given point are less than one hundredth of one percent”, said Kent Frantz, Senior Service Hydrologist for the National Weather Service at Peachtree City. “This means that the chance of an event like this occurring is 1 in 10,000.’….” (U.S. Geological Survey. Atlanta Floods Extremely Rare. Reston VA: USGS, U.S. Department of the Interior. 11-4-2009.)
Sources
ABC News. “Storms, Rain Turn Deadly In Georgia,” 9-22-2009.
Associated Press. “Avoid Atlanta! Floodwaters Claim 8 Lives.” 9-22-2009. Accessed at: http://www2.wjbf.com/jbf/news/state_regional/georgia/article/avoid_atlanta_floodwaters_claim_7_state_of_emergency_declared/25353/
Associated Press (Brumback). “Death Toll at 10 as Southeast Floods Start to Ebb,” 9-23-2009. Accessed 6-23-2015 at: http://blog.al.com/live/2009/09/floodwaters_begin_to_recede_in.html
CNN (Wayne Drash and Emanuella Grinberg). “Drowning mother: ‘Please, come help me!’” 9-23-2009. Accessed 6-23-2015 at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/23/georgia.drowning.911/index.html?eref=rss_us
National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 51, No. 9, Sep 2009. Asheville, NC: NCDC, National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, NOAA. Accessed 6-23-2015 at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-848EAB4B-AE2C-40E4-8F8D-E7A20C4AA1E3.pdf
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Peachtree City, GA. Atlanta Floods 5th Anniversary, September 15-22, 2009 (website). NWS, 9-13-2014 modification. Accessed 6-24-2015 at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=atlanta_floods_anniv
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Peachtree City, GA. The Epic Floods of 2009 [website] 3-2-2010 modification. Accessed 6-24-2015 at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=0909epicflood
New York Times. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” Sep 24, 2009.
Reuters, Atlanta (Matthew Bigg). “U.S. flood damage in Georgia to top $250 million.” 9-23-2009. Accessed 6-23-2015 at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/09/23/us-usa-georgia-floods-idUSTRE58M49620090923
USA Today. “Southerners Survey Damage After Floods.” 9-22-2009. Accessed at: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/floods/2009-09-22-flooding-tuesday_N.htm
U.S. Geological Survey. Atlanta Floods Extremely Rare. Reston VA: USGS, U.S. Department of the Interior. 11-4-2009. Accessed 9-5-2015: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2343#.Vesxspc9Z14
[1] Writes of at least ten deaths in Georgia and Alabama. Nine have been reported for Georgia.
[2] NYT. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” Sep 24, 2009.
[3] Associated Press. “Avoid Atlanta!” 9-22-2009. This might be a reference to Nicholas Osley.
[4] New York Times. “Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm,” Sep 24, 2009.
[5] CNN (Wayne Drash and Emanuella Grinberg). “Drowning mother: ‘Please, come help me!’” 9-23-2009.
[6] Associated Press. “Death Toll At 10 As Southeast Floods Start to Ebb,” 9-23-2009.