Flood Waters begin to Recede in the Southeast | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Austell, Georgia The skies have cleared over the Atlanta area and the water is starting to recede. Only now are residents here getting a good look at what was lost.

Bill Howell's house in the northwest part of the city is coated with mud. He had put all the furniture up on paint buckets in case it was as bad as hurricane Ivan five-years ago. "We've done everything we can possibly do and we thought we were doing right because of what happened before. And then we've never seen anything like this."

The death toll across the southeast now stands at 10. One of those was 2-year-old Slade Crawford. His body was found hours after a surging stream tore open his family's mobile home. "I told Slade it would be alright and I loved him and we would make it but we didn't make it," said Craig Crawford.

Families said they are eager to get their children back into the school routine to get their minds off the flooding. But many believe after two floods in five-years, a small school in Austell will not be rebuilt.

As for roads and freeways that had been closed, many were reopened by Tuesday night. Even as the water level drops, bridges remain a major structural concern. "If you look closely, you'll see there are cracks on both sides of the bridge. We're going to be shut down for at least the next couple weeks," said Garrin Coleman with the Sandy Springs Public Works department.

The flood warnings were supposed to expire Tuesday night. But because many creeks and streams are still above flood stage, those warnings remain in effect for the time being.