Epic flood called 500 Year Flood

The flooding in Georgia that took place this week is now being referred to as an epic 500-Year-Flood.

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.

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According to the USGS website...

The flooding around Atlanta this week is one for the record books. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the rivers and streams had magnitudes so great that the odds of it happening were less than 0.2 percent in any given year. In other words, there was less than a 1 in 500 chance that parts of Cobb and Douglas counties were going to be hit with such an event.

“The USGS can reliably say just how bad these floods were. They were epic!” said Brian McCallum, Assistant Director for the USGS Water Science Center in Georgia. “We have all witnessed the devastation caused by these floods, but now we can quantify it.” The data are gathered from the USGS real-time streamgaging network.

On Sept. 22, USGS crews measured the greatest flow ever recorded (28,000 cubic feet per second) on Sweetwater Creek near Austell, Ga.

Elsewhere in the Atlanta area:

The Yellow River streamgages in Gwinnett, DeKalb and Rockdale counties measured flows between the 1 percent chance (100-year) and 0.5 percent chance (200-year) flood magnitude.
Flows caused by the rain at Peachtree Creek in Atlanta were only near the 10 percent chance (10-year) flood magnitude, but the backwater effects from the Chattahoochee River pushed water levels over the 0.2 percent chance (500-year) flood at the gage location.
On the Chattahoochee, USGS measured a 1 percent chance exceedence (100-year) flood at Vinings and Roswell.


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Allow me now to just share with you some of the shocking photos that have come out of the flood-stricken areas... it's hard to imagine going through something like this... such a long road lies ahead for some of these people!
From left: Garrett Jacobs, Dakota Nelson, and Levi Wright move a barricade to higher ground after flood waters from the Yellow River continued to rise Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 in Lilburn. Ga. The community canceled their beach bash, which was scheduled for Monday night. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)
From left, Allen Rice, Zach Shirley, Jacob Shirley, and Danny Shirley remove two mattresses from their home in East Ridge, Tenn., Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. Heavy rainfall caused water from area creeks to flood areas throughout Chattanooga and northern Georgia areas. (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Patrick Smith)

The roof of an auto shop is barely visible above swollen Sweetwater Creek after heavy rains of recent days caused the creek to flood, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, in Austell, Ga. (AP Photo/John Amis)
An unidentified man looks back at tractor trailer cars washed against a bridge going over Sweetwater Creek left there by flood waters from recent rains, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Austell, Ga.(AP Photo/John Amis)
A submerged truck is shown in flood waters in Mableton, Ga., Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. Heavy rains caused flooding in and around the Atlanta area. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Grounds crew including Michael Watts, Jr., second from left, work at cleaning up mud and debris at the foot of the Ninja roller coaster, left by flood waters that inundated Six Flags over Georgia amusement park, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)
Mud encased bicycles lay strewn in front of a house in Lilburn after flood waters from the Yellow River receded from it, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Austell, Ga. A newly built deck on the back of the house was nowhere to be found. (AP Photo/John Amis)


Have a blessed weekend!
~Dewdrop