Pictures of Atlanta flooding - incredible to think that this was non-hurricane related

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/atlanta/atlanta-flood-aerial-0922/

"Just" an unusual rain event. 20 inches would flood any place. This could happen anywhere, anytime. Time to get flood insurance if you don't already have it.

[AngryAmish]

1. How is that drought working out?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. I read that the area had just recently pulled out of a severe 2 year drought.

I don't understand the point of your question - do you think the area is responsible for its own weather?

[AngryAmish]

4. No, I blame Bush.

[conscious evolution]

5. It just got laid off

I had 8"+ at my place in a fourtyfive minute span yesterday.
It was coming down so hard I could not see the nieghbors house.The one that is ten feet from my bedroom window.

[Scurrilous]

3. This one is freaky:

The tops of the light poles look like periscopes peering from the depths.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. THey had a couple of collections of photos - I found most of them freaky

in that it all looked like Anyville USA and the flooding was so damn high! To the roof of an elementary school? To halfway up a rollercoaster? FROM RAIN?! I guess it was a lot of creeks and rivers overrunning their banks and overwhelmed storm drains.

[conscious evolution]

7. Think about all of the fuel

that just got released into the flood waters. YeeHaa. not.

[dysfunctional press]

16. how much was released...?

certainly not the bulk of the gasoline- which is stored in airtight tanks underground.

[conscious evolution]

17. No telling

The cap and seals to most fuel tanks I am familar with(I use to be in the fuel handling business once upon a time) are not really all that good in the first place.Especially after years of use.I would not count on their staying sealed for very long.
Then there are the vent pipes for preventing vapor lock.They have no cap or seal and if the water rose over the top of them the water would definitely enter the tanks and displace the lighter gasoline.
And I don't see the vent pipes sticking up above the water in that photo.

After taking a second look I don't see the vent pipes but I also do not see the tell-tale slick a fuel leak would have.

[dysfunctional press]

19. the vent pipes usually have a bend in them so that they point down...

so that's not an issue- unless the laws of physics have somehow been suspended. :shrug:

if there had been some type of major fuel spill- there would be a visible trail.
and considering the number of gas stations in the area in the same predicament, there would be a LOT of visible fuel in the area in general.

my gut tells me that gas stations/tanks (especially in flood prone areas) are designed to retain their integrity(and their fuel) in these kinds of situations.

but then again- it IS the south, so anything is possible, lack-of-intellectwise.

[conscious evolution]

20. "it IS "

That says it all right there.

Most newer gas stations do have the trap built in to the vent.Older ones mostly don't.There is most likely some law or regulation that says they should have been retrofitted but I would bet that in that part of Georgia it is not likely to be enforced.That area is full of riech wing 'get goverment off my back' types and I can easily see them trying to save the buck or two it would have cost to install them.

[tosh]

28. The EPA deadline for replacement, upgrade or closure

of UST's was August 1998. Yes, even in Georgia.:eyes:

[Number23]

35. "but then again- it IS the south, so anything is possible, lack-of-intellectwise."

What a prickish, asshole-ish, fuckwit-ish thing to say.

Remind me to look for you the next time a tragedy strikes your area. I'm sure that any area that could produce one such as you is ripe for regional insults.

[dysfunctional press]

58. ...

:eyes:

[Number23]

62. About as potent of a comeback as I'd expect from the likes of you.

[glowing]

55. I bet its a BP gas station. Green roof. Station stalls, and lights all around.

[Louisiana1976]

8. they are incrediblle--remind me of the New Orleans flood.

[Occulus]

9. SHIT I accidentally hit unrec

I'm sorry.

We need an undo feature for that....

[Forkboy]

10. I recced it for ya.

:)

[myrna minx]

11. Oh my god.

:hug: for our Atlantan friends.

[damntexdem]

12. Get ready for more climate-connected disasters.

And for climate refugees.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

14. I know. I think the entire eastern Seaboard is in for some difficult times

within this century. But, as I said, rain events can happen anywhere, so there's no "safe" place to migrate to.

Maybe we can start looking into some really radical building ideas - I know that the Netherlands is starting to build houses on hydraulic lifts - seems like a really smart idea.



Cyclone Morakot dropped 114 inches of rain in one location on Taiwan in August!! That is completely Biblical.

http://www.meteogroup.co.uk/uk/home/weather/weather_news/news/archive/2009/august/ch/6561dfe665/article/cyclone_morakot_reviewed.html

[SoCalDem]

13. Socialist-federal flood insurance? .. n/t

[Earth_First]

23. Yep!

Help on the Way!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. kick for our friends in Atlanta and surrounds!

[Frank Cannon]

18. Atlanta has now become Atlantis

Maybe all those Atlantis myths weren't referring to the past but were actually FORETELLING THE FUTURE.

(cue thunderclap, Theme from "Midnight Express")

[malaise]

21. Unbelievable

Thanks

[Odin2005]

22. Holy shit!

:wow:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. we have friends in the Connemara subdivision that are still trapped

they said they are down to their last slice of bread...they will be able to get out tomorrow if not tonight, though.

It WAS a tropical system that just never made it to any 'tropical' status as it formed up and moved over TX a couple of weeks back and started throwing water our way from the Gulf. It pretty much inched our way...and kept pumping in tropical moisture...

sP

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

25. It seems like it rained intermittently but heavily for days.

When systems just sit it's bad bad news.

In one of those picture cycles, it shows some guy in thigh high water wading to his car to "go pick up his son" from school?!

At that point, it was already incredibly dangerous for anyone to be out on the streets. I'm wondering about the whole emergency response systemin Atlanta - when did they know they had a big, big problem?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

26. well, in fairness to the city...

most of the 'flooding' rains happened over Sunday evening. Some places got 18" in about 12 hours...that will overwhelm any system. The rivers, already laden with the consistent rains, then got hammered with the massive rains of Sunday sending them out of their banks. Most went from non-flood to moderate or massive flooding in hours...

sP

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

27. gotcha. nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

29. Not a penny of flood insurance,

I'll wager.

I mean, it's ATLANTA, right?

Unbelievable photographs. Thank you.................

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

30. I am a crazy proselytizer for flood insurance.

It costs 300ish a year for 250K building and 100K contents.

EVERYONE should have it. No place can absorb the weird, crazy microburst type monsoon rainfalls that have appeared all over the place. It's not just about lakes, rivers and creeks - if the storm drains are overwhelmed, it all backs up all over the place.

You can now even purchase supplemental flood insurance if the amounts above are not enough.

The guidelines in the Atlanta paper tell people that if the water in their house touched the ground, only flood insurance will cover it. Conventional insurance only covers in cases where the wind ripped off your roof or blew out your window and that's how the water entered - anything else - faggedabottit.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

37. not EVERYONE needs flood insurance

our home is on the top of quite a large hill and the closest running water to us is about 200ft below us and over a quarter mile away. If it were to flood here insurance would be the last thing we would need to be worrying about...

Having said that...I will agree that there ARE loads of people who are uninsured who need to be...

sP

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

38. Do you think that your location could absorb 20" of rain with no problem?

You don't have any level ground where the water will rise and pool and then access your house?

Atlanta had days and days of rain. There comes a point when there is simply no place for the water to GO.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

39. nope...there is no way water can access our home...

if there was a flood of the magnitude necessary to flood our home I would be looking around to see if someone had built an ark. With all the flooding that happened in our area, the nearest 'waterway' was well over 200' below our home. It could rain 100" here and it wouldn't make a difference for flooding...

not everyone needs flood insurance and to say so is to lure people into wasting their money...

sP

[unapatriciated]

33. no because we were not considered a flood area.

It's very expensive. You do know there are a lot of Duer's in the Atlanta, what do you mean by "I mean, it's ATLANTA, right?"
Should I feel insulted?
Lame54 and I spent all day and well into the night cleaning up mud and water in our basement. We were one of the lucky ones who didn't loose our home.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

42. If you are in a moderate or low risk area, coverage starts at $119 a year

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/residential_coverage/homeowner.jsp

Moderate-to-Low Risk
Most homeowners in a moderate-to-low risk area are eligible for coverage at a preferred rate. Preferred Risk Policy premiums are the lowest premiums available through the NFIP, offering building and contents coverage for one low price. In fact, building and contents coverage starts at just $119 per year.


http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/flood_scenarios.jsp

[unapatriciated]

44. not for us, we have a stream fed lake behind our home.

We did carry a very expensive policy for the first two years. We received a notice last year that stated since we were not in a flood zone it was not necessary to carry flood insurance, yet they didn't offer a lower premium.
Because of the lake our quotes started at 2,500 a year. The kicker is the lake didn't flood our home (it is on a higher level ) it was the sheer volume of rain that created a river in our front yard going down to the lake.

Thank you for your links but we are not considered low to moderate risks when it comes to premiums.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

49. I know of someone who had a similar situation to yours

They were able to get a "certificate of elevation" which proved to the underwriters that they lived high enough above the lake that it posed no extra risk. You probably will have to get a survey in order to get the certificate, but it might reduce your rates enough to be well worth it and cover you in the future. It's worth looking into.

[unapatriciated]

51. Thanks we did do that but still had problems lowing our rate.

It could be because of all the streams in the area or maybe we need a different insurance agent.
Our damage was less than the first year premium we paid, so we were luckier than a lot of others.
With all the climate changes (I consider the drought and than all the recent rain to be a result of climate change) we will be looking into getting flood insurance again. Not sure if it will be lower than before but it's worth it.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

52. Try a different agent. My friends had someone who really went to bat for them with the underwriters.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

50. the feds have been 'reassessing' flood plains and redrawing boundaries

for a couple of years in the Atlanta region now (probably elsewhere too). I hope they take a good hard look at the data they have just received and go back and revise some of their revisions!

sP

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

53. Very true. And current policy owners are somewhat grandfathered into lower coverages

as long as they don't let the policy lapse. One more reason to get it while the getting is good.

[Fumesucker]

31. Here are a few pics I took within a mile of my home here on the west side of Atlanta..

Water coming over the top of a dam, if the dam breaks a major highway here will be flooded as well as quite a few homes.



A flooded subdivision.



This is normally a little creek you can step across.

[blaze]

32. OMGosh!!!!

Thanks for those photos.

Hope all our friends in Georgia are safe.

Those are some pretty scary shots.

[AsahinaKimi]

34. If only we had half of that water ... in rainfall

For the state of California.. we might not have this:

[ovidsen]

36. The Atlanta floods were definitely tropical WX related!

The storm that generated all of the Atlanta area's rain might have turned into a hurricane had it spent more time over the Gulf of Mexico. But it drifted north over the Louisiana-Texas border last week before it became strong enough to get a name. While it may not have had the wind, it did have the moisture you associate with tropical weather systems. I was a little surprised that local forecasters didn't really mention this, and said as much in a General Discussion post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6608862

Those are some incredible pictures, Phoebe.

You, too, Fumesucker.

Thankfully, the ovidsen household stayed dry. Hope yours did too.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

40. Here's an article from CNN that continues to maintain that it was not TS related

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/09/22/atlanta.weather.science/index.html

I think they may be in a bit of an CYA mode, given the question you asked in your thread that you posted.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

43. all of the local forecasters and the weather channel as well say tropical

and any idiot who watched it form up over the TX/LA area would have known so. I showed my wife satellite pics DAYS before the heavy rains came and she asked if she had missed a hurricane coming to shore...

CYA mode is RIGHT!

sP

[ovidsen]

61. Maybe CNN is right.

As I admitted in my posts, being a meteorology major for 2 semesters 40 years ago does not make me a meteorologist.

But it sure looked tropical to me.

And even if it wasn't, it was quite clear to me six days ago that this storm had the potential to trigger some serious flooding. And that's why I'm still wondering why most forecasters didn't even mention the flood threat until Sunday evening, 4 days after all the rain started. Debating whether it was tropical not seems almost irrelevant.

Thanks for your response, and I hope that (if you live in or around Atlanta) that you managed to keep your powder dry.

[RebelOne]

41. It's been pretty bad here in the Atlanta area.

I couldn't get to my house on Monday night because a creek overflowed the road. I had to spend the night at a motel.

[JeanGrey]

45. You can't get "flood insurance" unless you live in a flood

plain, unfortunately.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

46. You are just flat out wrong

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/ffr_overview.jsp

[JeanGrey]

47. I guess our insurance agent doesn't want to sell insurance

then.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

48. I'm not sure that all companies and all agents can sell it

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/ffr_overview.jsp

Do you see that little box off to the left in the link above -

you can see your risk, get an estimate of your rate and see an agent/company who can sell the policy.

[JeanGrey]

63. They talked about this on the news today. They also

repeated that you can't buy flood insurance unless you live in a flood plain. ??

[Xithras]

59. No, he may not be. It's not available everywhere.

To get flood insurance, you must live in a community that has signed up for the national flood insurance program. If you don't live in a town, your county has to be signed up for it. If your community hasn't signed up for it (and many don't, because they consider themselves low risk and there are costs & new regulations involved), federally backed flood insurance isn't available to you at ANY price. A town of 500 in the flatlands of Kansas 30 miles from the nearest waterway may simply decide that it isn't worth the expense and effort.

You can find out if your community is signed up by looking here: http://www.fema.gov/fema/csb.shtm

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

60. The poster said that you could not get flood insurance UNLESS you live in a flood plain. Not true.

That is what I said was wrong. You are correct that flood coverage is not available everywhere, but that was not the point in contention.

[JeanGrey]

64. Well yes it is exactly the point.

[Orsino]

54. The storm sat on top of us instead of passing through.

As my wife opines, y'all never would have heard about this had the storm not dropped so much water in one area.

[RubyDuby in GA]

56. This is from Covington where I live

The Yellow River goes through Covington and a town in Covington called Porterdale.

The first is from a house that is right next to the river and on the other side is an elementary school and one of the high schools. This goes from left to right:






Now this is the old mill in Porterdale. Its been renovated into very nice lofts. I bet there were some nervous residents on Sunday and Monday nights. Usually the river is a little trickle going over some rocks there by the building. Not on Tuesday - it was raging rapids. I have lived in Covington for 23 years and I have never seen that much water or seen it moving so fast. Our schools are closed today because we still have roads that are covered by water.



You can see water coming out from underneath the structure in this one:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

57. Awful. Things like this make you completely reevaluate how you look at water

when it goes from being scenic to destructive.