COBB COUNTY, Ga. — As portions of southeast Georgia recover from floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Debby, the state is drawing lessons from past floods.
In Cobb County, Julius Dooley’s automobile restoration shop is located in a building that had to be restored after Sweetwater Creek swamped the area during the devastating floods of 2009.
“We knew we was in trouble,” said Dooley of the rain that started to fall on September 15, 2009. “You go down the roads there were barricades you had to turn around. You’re in water waist deep. I hope I never see that again in my lifetime.”
Near Sweetwater Creek in Cobb and Douglas Counties, empty lots with overgrown foundations still stand where homes once stood. Twenty inches of rain in less than twenty-four hours damaged more than 16,000 homes, some of which were in areas that at the time were considered outside the flood zone.
Compare the $500 million worth of damage done by the 2009 flood to the $750 million it cost to rebuild after the flood of 1994. Tropical Storm Alberto dumped enough rain to swamp large portions of south Georgia. 50,000 people had to flee their homes. 31 people lost their lives.
Recovery from the 1994 and 2009 floods took years. FEMA updated flood zones, and Cobb County rebuilt four dams. For people like Julius Dooley, the experience with a flood has left its mark
“Everybody’s trying to forget about it but in the back of our mind we’re like what’s about to happen next,” said Dooley.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, floods have cost Georgia upwards of $ 2 billion since 1980.
