Flood 06282014

The Albany Saturday

June 28, 2014

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Local residents recall harrowing evacuations as the water rose, 18AA

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An aerial view shows North Slappey Boulevard swamped with flood water in July 1994. (Albany Herald file photo)

Flood of ’94’s impact endures two decades later

By Carlton Fletcher carlton.fletcher @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — As the waters of the Flint River and its tributaries in and around Albany and Southwest Georgia left their embankments and inundated thousands upon thousands of acres after Tropical Storm Alberto dumped 23 inches of rainwater in a 24-hour period over the July Fourth holiday in 1994, the devastation that followed was eventually measured in loss.

Loss of homes. Loss of farmland. Loss of livelihood. Loss of serenity.

Even loss of life.

The community put aside differences of religion, differences of socioeconomic status and even differences of race for an unforgettable but regrettably short-lived period after the flood waters receded. The impact of the loss suffered at the hands of the Flood of ’94, however, is still being felt two decades later.

Large swaths of prime real estate in the heart of downtown Albany sit now and forever vacant by order of the federal government, declared uninhabitable by a Federal Emergency Management Agency that doled out billions of dollars in disaster relief to help rebuild the region. Showcase homes that were the talk of their various neighborhoods in their early-’90s prime are now boarded up, visited only by various creatures that make their way inside through entrance crevices that are the byproduct of years of neglect.

Whole neighborhoods are gone, denying generations stable roots, a vital component of family history, and forcing whole families into nomadic existences that, for some, persist 20 years removed from the devastation.

“There are areas of this city that are never coming back,” said Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard, who helped fill sandbags at the Albany Civic Center even as the flood waters were taking aim at his city.

“There are places that are almost like toxic dumps.

“It’s been 20 years since that flood, but the magnitude — the impact it had on this community — is still being felt today. Folks who were born and raised here couldn’t believe this was happening to them; it was like reading a fairy-tale story. Folks scattered, and

In 1994, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, left, met with President Bill Clinton in Albany to discuss the impact that the flood of had on the state. (Albany Herald File Photo)

more online For photo galleries including vintage photos covering the Flood of 1994, visit albanyherald.com.

many of them didn’t come back. A lot of those who did are still having flashbacks.”

Albany and Dougherty County were perhaps most impacted by the flood, both economically and psychologically. One of Georgia’s largest counties populationwise prior to 1994, Dougherty has lost almost 6,000 residents since the flood.

And while many in that group have remained in the Albany Metropolitan Statistical Area, opting to relocate in neighboring Lee County, the migration has created an imbalance that can be illustrated statistically.

While Dougherty County was losing 6,000 residents over the past two decades, Lee County was adding more than 10,000, its population climbing from 19,000 in 1994 to more than 29,000 today. Lee was actually in the midst of a mini-boom when the flood waters hit, its population exploding from 14,000 in 1990 to almost 20,000 in the four years before the flood.

“The results of the Flood of ’94 were horrifying, there’s no denying that,” Lee County Chamber of Commerce Director Winston Oxford said. “It almost seems a shame to say this, but there are folks who actually benefited from the flood. Look at the growth

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Their campus was completely wiped out, but they eventually were able to build a pretty much modern, state-of-the-art campus.

“Lee County had started growing residentially in the late ’80s, and while a lot of that growth had to do with the county school system, with what I’ll call ‘bright flight,’ the flood caused the growth to blossom. There were people who did not want to take the chance of rebuilding (in Dougherty County) and having to go through another flood, so they took the opportunity to move into Lee County neighborhoods like Calloway Lakes, neighborhoods that had started to take off in 1991, ’92 and ’93.”

Retailers took note of the population growth in Lee County, paying special attention to the once-rural bedroom community’s new-found wealth. Even today, Lee’s median income of $58,400 almost doubles Dougherty’s $31,789.

“It’s the same old story when it comes to retail: Commercial investment chases residential,” Oxford said.

Other Southwest Georgia communities impacted heavily by the flood have seen fluctuations in population over the past 20 years as well, but the net results have been less drastic. To the south of Dougherty County, the Baker County farming community has seen a population loss of

some 500, while Sumter County to the north has lost around 600 residents.

Since Baker’s population is minimal at 3,341, its losses are more significant.

Some in the county point to another reason many Dougherty Countians chose to pull up stakes rather than use recovery money to rebuild on land that for some had been in their families for generations.

“A lot of the people in south Dougherty County were given the option of rebuilding on their property, but they chose not to,” Jack Stone, who has served on the Dougherty County Commission for the past 28 years, said. “They found out that if they rebuilt, they had to buy flood insurance that was so outrageous they couldn’t afford it. A lot of those folks went into Lee or Worth counties or somewhere else away from the water.”

The Dougherty County School System, which has been a lightning rod for negative news in recent years, also is seen as a victim of the flood. Psychologists say the children of the Flood of ’94, from kindergartners to high school students, suffered a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder that is directly related to the county’s steadily declining standardized test scores.

“When you have a large number of students who were displaced by the flood, many of whom were forced to move to a new

neighborhood and a new school, there’s going to be an impact,” said one child psychologist who took part in conducting a study of the impact of the flood on area students but asked that her name not be used.

“Understand, many of these students were living with older relatives — typically grandparents — who had difficulty explaining the phenomenon of the rising flood waters.

“Many used biblical or ‘folk’ explanations that often confused the younger students and left many feeling that either they were somehow partially responsible or that the ‘retribution’ for sinful acts could happen again at any time. Those images left many students frightened and unable to function as well as they had prior to the flood. And many experienced various levels of fear any time there was a subsequent rain event.”

Still, the city of Albany has used the lessons its leaders learned from the Flood of ’94 to try to make changes that will benefit the community in the presence of subsequent heavy rains.

Those changes have mostly impacted the city’s infrastructure.

“We learned a lot from the Flood of ’94,” city Public Works Director Phil Roberson said. “As far as I know, nobody alive had ever seen the river at the levels it was during the flood. So while we were

dealing with the issues that impacted our residents, we were also trying to come up with ways to make improvements going forward.

“We were able to put together a plan that we think will allow us to mitigate future issues. But there’s no real way of knowing how you’ll mitigate issues when the river is at the level it was during the flood. But over the course of a decade or so, we were able to make repairs to our roads and to our infrastructure that we believe will allow us to deal much better with any other such high water issues in the future. Of course, this was a 500-year flood, so I’d have to anticipate that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

Both Albany City Manager James Taylor and Dougherty County Administrator Richard Crowdis agree that their governmental bodies have focused on necessary storm-abatement improvements as a result of the flood.

“All of our future plans in the vicinity of the river will be impacted by the Flood of ’94,” Taylor said. “There will be no more permanent, livable structures built close enough to the river to be impacted. And the city will own property it was given by the federal government that it can never sell but must maintain forever. We can’t sell it, and we can’t give it away. That will never go away.”

Still, Crowdis says the benefits of being located along a waterway like the Flint far outweigh the negatives.

“A lot of the storm drainage improvements we’ve made in the county was financed using SPLOST (special purpose localoption sales tax) money that was allocated directly because of the Flood of ’94,” Crowdis said. “We’ve put in needed equipment and we’ve made corrections.

They’re not going to stop the Flint from overflowing its banks, but these improvements will allow us to address these issues better in the future.

“The people of Dougherty County will never forget that flood. It left a lasting imprint. But I don’t think the flood will cast a shadow that keeps us from growing. The river that runs through this community is still a tremendous asset to Albany and Dougherty County.”

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Weather conditions perfect for ’94 disaster

By Jim Hendricks jim.hendricks @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — On the western coast of Africa, an unremarkable tropical wave was detected on June 18, 1994, in Dakar, Senegal, through rawinsonde data.

It moved westward and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, where it brought thunderstorms to the Virgin Islands.

As it neared the Bahamas a couple of days later, the storm activity subsided.

On June 29, the wave had reached Cuba, where its thunderstorm activity intensified again. That’s also when weather watchers with the National Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noticed a weak circulation in the storm. A reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched to gather information.

Experts with the Hurricane Center looked at the data and made it official.

It was June 30 and the first tropical depression of the 1994 Atlantic hurricane season had formed as a poorly organized system over Cuba’s west coast.

Continuing to move west, the depression got better organized after leaving the island. It gained strength and turned northwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

On July 2 at 0:00 UTC time (8 p.m. July 1), it became the first named system of the 1994 hurricane season.

Tropical Storm Alberto.

As it tracked north toward the Florida panhandle, Alberto intensified. Just as it made landfall near Destin, Fla., about 11 a.m. July 3, it was packing winds of up to 65 mph. By 8 p.m., it had been downgraded to a depression as it met a cold front from the northwest around Columbus, creating warm, moist air and instability. Moving lazily, what was left of Alberto took two days to travel to a point near Atlanta, its drenching rainfall already sending rivers past their flood stages. It stalled.

Then, it moved slowly on a westerly and southerly path to Alabama, crossing over part of the path it took going north.

On the evening of July 7, the remnants of Alberto dissipated over central Alabama.

Waters flow over the Georgia Power dam in north Albany. The Flint River, swollen by rain, heavy runoff and flooding tributaries upstream, quickly rose to a historic height of 43 feet in Albany on July 11, 1994. (Albany Herald file photo)

NOAA rain accumulations from Tropical Storm Alberto.

(National Hurricane Center graphic)

Georgia and Southeast Alabama. Over a much broader area, however, locations experienced at least 8 inches of rain, creating what NOAA officials described as “tremendous runoff” that resulted in the widespread flooding.

Just how widespread was put in perspective in an Oct. 12, 1994 National Climatic Data Center technical report by meteorologist Tom Ross and physical scientist Neal Lott. “In Georgia alone,” they said, “the flood waters covered an area the size of Massachusetts and Rhode Island combined.”

With Massachusetts at 10,555 square miles and Rhode Island at 1,212 square miles, that means that at least 11,767 square miles — about 19.8 percent — of Georgia’s 59,425-square-mile area was underwater.

swelled to a record 43 feet, more than double the 20foot flood stage, in Albany, breaking a 69-year-old record of 37.8 feet.

The highest water, however, was downstream at Newton. On July 13, the Flint swelled to a record 45.25 feet, swamping the old downtown business area.

The river has a flood stage of 24 feet at that location. The previous record, set right after Albany’s old record in THE FLOODING late January 1925, had been Alberto’s effects, how41.3 feet. ever, were just starting to be And while it sustained felt. By that time, 25 of the severe flooding, the only 31 people in Georgia who community that got any would die as a result of its kind of a break from the torrential rains on already forecasts was Bainbridge. saturated soil had lost their Emergency management lives. Flash-flooding hit personnel there had evacuSumter County especially ated an area that would have hard as earthen farm dams been affected had the Port were breached. Cities and City experienced the 45-foot communities along creeks crest that was predicted to and rivers — including Alhit on July 13. The water bany, Newton, Baconton and A SWELLING FLINT crested at 37.3 feet, below Montezuma — were about Of the 30 locations that that city’s record of 40.9 feet to experience record floodexperienced new record that also was set in January ing. A quarter of Dougherty flooding from the massive 1925.

County’s population would volume of water, 20 were on An interesting note is how be displaced as the Flint the banks of the Flint River. the flood forecasts quickly River literally split Albany Twenty-three locations saw worsened. On the mornin half, rendering the four flooding greater than what ing of July 5, forecasters bridges that connected the a location would expect to expected the Flint to crest two segments of the city occur once a century, with in Albany at a maximum impassable.

18 of those locations beside of 31 feet on July 11. By Initially seen as a 100-year the Flint. mid-afternoon on the 5th, flood, it came to be seen as The Ocmulgee River the forecast was bumped the kind of flooding that is crested July 7 at Macon, up to 37 feet. The next day, only expected to hit an area setting a new record level of the cresting was moved once in a 500-year period.

35.4 feet, 5.5 feet higher than up to the 9th with a new The heaviest rainfall was the March 1990 record. The maximum near 44 feet. By in the Americus area, which Kinchafoonee Creek gauge shortly after noon June 10, a received a record 27.61 near Dawson reached a remaximum 46-foot crest was inches of rain July 3-9. An cord 26.56, 13.56 feet above expected the next day, with incredible 21.1 inches of flood stage and breaking its the crest coming in 3 feet that rainfall came within a 4-year-old record by more below that.

24-hour period July 5-6. The than 4 feet.

The story was similar in National Weather Service’s The next day, the Flint Newton, where the river Climate Analysis Center crested at 35 feet at Montforecasters on July 5 prodetermined that the heaviezuma (15 feet above flood jected a maximum 32-foot est rainfall — 16 inches or stage), breaking a 65-yearcrest on the 13th. That was more — fell in a narrow old record of 27.4 feet. changed to a 38-foot crest band across Southwest On July 11, the Flint on the 12th that afternoon,

Tropical Storm Alberto’s storm path in 1994. (National Hurricane Center graphic)

and projections by July 7 were for 45 feet with the river expected to top out by the 11th. On the 10th, that was revised to as much as 46 feet on the 12th. The crest hit 9 inches below that projection about 6 a.m. July 13.

(although the measured discharge of 108,000 cfs [cubic feet per second] exceeded the previous record discharge of 101,000 cfs). …”

More than 400,000 acres of Georgia farmland were flooded, a National Climatic Data Center technical report FAST-MOVING WATER said, with at least 60,000 The volume of the water acres of peanuts, 19,000 that moved toward the Gulf acres of cotton and 10,000 was astounding. Albany’s acres of corn submerged. crest discharge was estimat- Another 400,000 acres ed at 120,000-125,000 cubic in Alabama were also feet per second. In Newton, swamped or damaged, the it was 94,400 cubic feet per report said. second.

According to a report by A National Weather Ser- the Centers for Disease Convice summary of the disaster trol & Prevention, 175 roadstated: “Some of the most ways in 30 counties were spectacular flooding occlosed at some time during curred along the Flint River. the flood, and more than The crest, generally 20-25 100 dams and recreational feet above flood stage and watersheds were breached or 4-6 feet above the previous destroyed. Of the deaths in record crest (January 1925), Sumter County, half were atwreaked havoc as it moved tributed to the failure of 7-9 downstream and caused im- earthen dams that inundated mense damage as well as the Creeks. The Department of evacuation of tens of thouNatural Resources said the sands of people. Blackshear number of breached dams Dam, upstream of Albany, totaled 218 with 35 of those was overwhelmed; and the in Sumter. high pool level forced the evacuation of residents in ASSESSING about 1,400 homes around THE DISASTER the lake (almost all of which In assessing the disaster, were ultimately inundated) National Weather Service before the dam was overofficials arrived at some topped and breached. conclusions that have af“Albany suffered major fected later events, includflood damage after nearly ing the flood of 1998. They one-third of its 76,000 concluded that more needed residents were evacuated. to be done to inform people Farther downstream, at about the dangers of floods Newton, nearly the entire and preparing for them, town was flooded to depths saying NWS policy should of 15-20 feet. After exceed- require periodic — prefering previous record flood ably annual — visits with levels as far downstream as state and local-level emerNewton, the Flint River at gency officials and other Bainbridge crested about “action agencies” to review 4 feet below record levels flood threats, particularly the

danger to those in vehicles.

They also discovered during the post-disaster interviews that interest in the storm system dissipated much more quickly than the storm itself did. “The public’s perceived threat from Alberto appeared to lessen once it made landfall,” the summary said, noting that several of the individuals interviewed remarked that the storm’s landfall was overemphasized while not enough attention was placed on the heavy rain and flooding that followed inland. The conclusion was that it was probably more of a media and public perception problem than a forecast issue, since meteorologists warned on July 4 of the “very dangerous flash flood and flood situation” for Georgia that day and overnight.

“The NWS and NOAA should take maximum advantage of the recommendations from the 1995 Interdepartmental Hurricane and the NOAA Hurricane Conferences, which focused on the inland effects of tropical cyclones, in order to enhance the public’s perception of the dangers associated with landfalling tropical cyclones,” the recommendation said. “In addition, the WCMs (warning coordinating meteorologists) in all areas which might be affected by the aftermath of decaying tropical cyclones should re-enforce the potential for severe flooding from such storms with the user community.”

The high death count — 31 in Georgia and two in Alabama — also weighed heavily with the survey team, which said there was a possibility the public in general had been inadequately educated about the dangers and locations of flood-prone areas — particularly roads — and the location of safe evacuation routes.

“If funding permits, the NWS, in conjunction with FEMA and appropriate state and local agencies, should embark upon a campaign to educate the public as to their local flood-prone areas,” the NWS disaster team concluded. “This should include a widely distributed array of visual representations of flood-prone areas depicting roads and bridges as well as portions of communities that may be potentially inundated by floods. Additionally, the NWS should plan to issue graphical flood forecasts as well as the traditional text products.”

LESSONS LEARNED? Still, not everyone is likely to heed warnings. In April, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee residents were polled for a AAA Consumer Pulse Survey that found almost nine out of every 10 Georgians — 89 percent — would evacuate if warned of danger. But for 70 percent of the Georgia respondents, the survey, which had a margin of error of 4.9 percent, said it would take at least a category 2 hurricane (minimum sustained wind speed of 96 mph) to prompt them to leave their homes.

Alberto’s winds never reached hurricane force.

In addition, the survey found that only 36 percent of Georgia respondents make preparations for hurricane season or other severe weather conditions. That lesson, the survey found, has been better learned in Florida, where residents are less likely to evacuate when warned (83 percent), but more than seven out of 10 residents (71 percent) prepare for hurricane season.

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The flood’s key players: Where are they now?

By Jim West

jim.west@albanyherald.com

ALBANY — During the struggle for survival of the region’s greatest natural disaster — and the cleanup that followed — a handful of individuals was at the heart of helping Albany area residents deal with the flood on an hourly basis.

Some of those people in high positions who were directing the city at that time have died. Others have moved out of the city and taken new jobs, while others are still here.

Assistant City Manager Janice Allen Jackson was in the news constantly, holding news conferences up to four times daily to relay current information from police, fire and other public safety agencies.

After three years in the second seat, Jackson served nine more as city manager before leaving Albany. These days she owns and operates Janice Allen Jackson and Associates, a faith-based management consulting firm in Charlotte, N.C. “We got to where we hardly even looked at our emergency plans,” said Jackson, now 50, of her updates, “because they changed by the hour. By the end of it all, I was really tired of hearing my own voice.”

Jackson’s boss at the time, City Manager Roy Lane, left Albany in 1996 to accept the city manager position in Spartanburg, S.C., where he died in 2001. According to an article in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a monument in downtown’s Burnett Park was erected and dedicated to Lane for his service to the city.

Other key figures of the time who have died include then-Albany Mayor Paul Keenan, who died in 2011, and Robert “Bob” Boren,

lieutenant colonel and commander of the Defense Logistics Agency at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany in 1994.

During a July visit to his parents house in Florida, Vaught said he picked up a newspaper and saw a picture of a John boat pulling James Janice Allen Bruce Maples Judy Bowles Larry Cook Paul Keenan Carswell Jackson a casket. He immediately called MCLB and organized a team of Marines to help with the Albany situation. Vaught is now deputy director of AlbanyDougherty Emergency Management Agency.

Henry Fields, fire chief in 1994, has retired, as has EMS director Bobby Phil Roberson Ron Rowe Roy Lane Bob Boren Bobby Tripp Alan Reddish Tripp. Both reside in Albany.

Of course, when the waassistant Albany Chief of role I could to make things become director of Dough“My retirement just ters fell back within their Police, who maintained a better.” erty County Public Works didn’t happen,” said Sperry natural boundaries, the job high profile during the diThese days Capt. Eddie while Merton left in 1999 in a recent telephone inter- of cleaning up remained. saster. Boren, who died in Williams is commander to become public works view. “Albany has always Judy Bowles, still exAlbany in 2008, is remem- of the Governor’s Task director in Putnam County, been my home. I’d been ecutive director of what is bered with the Bob Boren Force for Drug SuppresFla. After serving in that an engineer even before I now Keep Albany-DoughCenter, a unit of the Lilly sion in Georgia, spending position for eight years, came to work for the city, erty Beautiful, established Pad, a nonprofit advocacy many of his work hours Merton worked as facility doing sewer crossings and a command center at the center for victims of sexual in a helicopter, searchmanagement director of pumping stations across fire department, she said, assault and child abuse. ing for marijuana farms. the Navy Support Facilthe river. I had to do my and on the first day of opBoren’s boss in 1994, In July of 1994 he was ity at Diego Garcia until part.” erations fielded 182 offers Police Chief Jack Lumppublic information officer 2012. Today he lives in the Maples is still city engi- to help with the monumenkin, left Albany in 1997 of Georgia State Patrol Jacksonville, Fla., area and neer and Sperry, 87, is “99 tal cleanup. for Athens-Clarke County, Post 40, appearing before owns a homeopathic diet percent retired,” he says, Bowles said that, among where he is now police the media daily to deliver plan business. without a crew or even other things, the cleanup chief. timely safety information.

Phil Roberson was a a drawing board. But he army gutted countLumpkin works closely He also used his piloting street supervisor with keeps his license current less flood-contaminated with another key figskills to airlift people and Albany Public Works in and still enjoys occasional houses, stripping off the ure from the Southwest equipment across the Flint 1994. He’s still around, but engineering jobs. wallboard, and hauling Georgia flood, Alan RedRiver. now he’s director of Public James Carswell is off more than 900 tons of dish, who was Dougherty “Without a helicopter, Works.

Albany fire chief now and debris.

County administrator dur- you’d have to drive someBruce Maples became director of Albany-Dough“Over a five-week ing the flood. Reddish left thing like 40 miles to find a city engineer on July 6, erty Emergency Manageperiod, we had over 33,000 Albany in 1997 to become bridge that wasn’t washed 1994 — the official first ment Agency. But when volunteers to offer their assistant director of the out,” Williams said. day of the great flood, he the Flint was overflowing, assistance,” Bowles said.

Carl Vinson Institute at the Williams still lives in said — and endured “trial then Assistant Chief Car“They were all pulling University of Georgia. In Albany. When driving, by water” for that and swell and firefighter (now for the community. We 2001, he accepted his pres- Williams said he somemany days thereafter, as Deputy Fire Chief) Ron required everyone have ent position as manager of times ponders “what was water from the Muckalee Rowe were motorboating rubber gloves, hard-soled the Athens-Clarke County there before the flood.”

Creek rushed to flood the through the city, rescuing shoes and a tetanus shot.” unified government.

Trying to stay ahead of city. Long before the Flint people from rooftops.

Also, Portia Holmes“Occasionally something the water on the public’s River had come to crest “A few of the people Shields, who oversaw will remind me,” Reddish behalf were men like Larry at 43 feet, he was grateful didn’t want to be rescued. the rebuilding of Albany said during a recent phone Cook, then assistant direc- for the help he had around They thought they’d be State University after the interview. “Someone will tor of Dougherty County him.

OK,” Rowe said. “We got flood, left Albany and ask if I were there during Public Works, and his A great deal of that asto where we’d make them served as president of Tenthe flood and that’s when counterpart, then Albany sistance came from John sign a note and identify nessee State University.

I think about it. If it were Public Works Director Bob Sperry, the “retiring” city their next of kin. That got She left Tennessee State, going to happen, I’m glad Merton. engineer whom Maples them in the boat.” but is still living in TenI was there to play what Cook stayed on to had replaced.

Jim Vaught was a nessee.

Celebrating 35 years of service to southwest Georgia

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Flood of ’94 a blessing in disguise for Albany State

By Terry Lewis

terry.lewis@albanyherald.com

ALBANY — In 1994, Tropical Storm Alberto dumped more than two feet of rain on the region, displaced 22,000 people and damaged 6,500 buildings.

The torrent of water flowing south caused the Flint River to crest at 43 feet (24 feet above flood stage) and consumed nearly two thirds of the 204-acre Albany State University campus.

Former Albany State University President Portia Holmes-Shields vividly remembers when she got her first look at the university’s flood-ravaged campus, and she talked about the mud.

“The first time I was standing there looking at the campus, there was mud and planks running from building to building,” Shields said. “I wondered, ‘How can I do this?’ It was probably the most challenging experience of my life.”

Shields, speaking to The Albany Herald from her home in Nashville, Tenn., said the university’s students, faculty and staff handled the devastation well.

“Walking those planks became almost a joyful walk because we knew better days were on the way,” said Shields, who oversaw much of the reconstruction.

A significant element of ASU’s $153 million floodrecovery program was the expansion of the campus eastward across Radium Springs Road, with the goal of removing the remaining buildings in the floodplain at the completion of their current life cycle. In the 1996-97 period, ASU built three new student housing buildings and a dining hall along the ridge on the west side of Radium Springs Road.

The university purchased a large area of land east of

An aerial view of Albany State University’s campus during the flood of 1994. (Herald Former Albany State President Portia Holmes-Shields.

File Photo)

State,” Shields said. “I don’t know what would have happened to that institution if not for that. The school was at a stalemate.

Enrollment was stagnant (just more than 3,000 at the time of the flood and 3,800 in 2013). The governor (Zell Miller) kept promising money for us, but we never saw much of it until after the flood.

“Now, prospective students see that beautiful campus and they say, ‘Ah. this is the place for me.’”

The Dougherty County School System also was hit hard by the flood. According to Facilities Director Bob Fowler, four schools located on the city’s south side were damaged beyond repair — Martin Luther Coachman Park Elementary School and the aftermath of the 1994 flood. (Herald File King Jr. Middle, Martin Photo) Luther King Jr. Elementary, Coachman Park Radium Springs Road in shortly by two more new and all of Albany can be Elementary and Flintside the sand dunes and started student housing buildings. proud of.”

Elementary — and were building this new section of “Now when you drive Ironically, the flood that eventually demolished. campus, beginning with the down Radium Springs nearly destroyed AlThe buildings on those ACAD building and HPER Drive you will see the best bany State University also sites were razed, including gymnasium, completed in looking institution in South- breathed new life into it. the removal of all founda1997. west Georgia,” Shields said.

“Looking back, the flood tions and underground Later, a new student “That campus is something was one of the best things structures, and the grounds center was built, followed our students, faculty, staff to ever happen to Albany brought to a stable and

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maintainable greenspace.

The sites were eventually deeded to the city as public green spaces. The MLK Middle site was converted to a walking track/exercise area.

The flooded MLK Jr. Middle School was not rebuilt during this time because of plans to include two new middle schools — Albany and Robert Cross.

The three flooded elementary schools were replaced with new schools on new sites through the use of FEMA funds. The new Alice Coachman and MLK Jr. Elementary schools retained their original names, while the other new school was named Lamar Reese Elementary School.

The three new schools were built at a coast of nearly $28 million.

Other schools were damaged but repaired, the most notable being Monroe High School, which got 4 inches of water in the building. Repairs required the removal and replacement of the floor tile on the first floor and the gym’s wooden floor.

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After the waters receded, the work began

By Brad McEwen brad.mcewen @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — After the waters finally receded, the real work began for those in the Good Life City who volunteered to clean up the wreckage of Albany in the wake of the Flood of ’94.

From her command post inside Albany’s downtown fire station, Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful (KADB) Executive Director Julia Bowles coordinated cleanup efforts throughout the community and directed the efforts of more than 33,000 volunteers as they diligently worked to remove debris from some 9,200 homes in the area.

“It was a massive effort,” Bowles said as she recently reflected on those days two decades ago when the worst natural disaster in Georgia’s history had Albany directly in its cross-hairs.

“It’s really mind-boggling to think about all the wreckage and what all went into trying to clean things up.”

Bowles, who had been in her position as KADB’s head for about two years when the disaster struck, said she really had no idea what she was getting into when county and city leaders called on her to direct the massive cleanup.

“It was really something,” said Bowles. “I was contacted on a Friday and we had a briefing on Saturday and then we got to work on Monday morning, and I worked for 33 straight days from 7 in the morning until 10 at night.”

In fact, KADB occupied the command center and had volunteers operating four telephone lines from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. for five straight weeks as residents continued to call in for help dealing with debris in their homes and on their property.

“We had no plan for this,” Bowles said. “I had to sort of invent the process as we went along.

The wonderful thing, though, is we had so many volunteers available to help out. All we had to do was get them to the right places and get the trash and debris ready to be taken to the landfill.”

Bowles and her team started by dividing the county into 10 sections, using index cards to write down the names and addresses of flooded properties. They then assigned volunteer teams, made up typically of eight members, to go to each address and begin “gutting” the houses.

“I hate to use the word ‘gutting,’ but that’s what we had to do,” Bowles said. “We had to remove everything — the ceil-

a mattress in the back of his truck and came anyway. You see, he had been through a disaster himself, so he knew what kind of help we needed.”

Bowles said it was that kind of spirit, usually shown by people who had suffered their own hardships, that made things work so well when it came to volunteers.

“Most of the people who help in these situations have been touched by a disaster,” said Bowles. “You want to give back, because of the support and help you received. That’s the beauty of it.”

Although they were too busy trying to assign people to affected areas and answer phones to keep record of where people came from, Bowles said there were people like that man from Pennsylvania who came from all over the United States to lend a hand.

Bowles said out-oftown church and civic groups brought busloads of volunteers to Albany Debris left from the Flood of ’94 was picked up daily throughout Albany and Dougherty County from mid-July until to stay as long as they were needed. the end of August and transported to the landfill. (Photo courtesy of Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful) As many Albanians port it to the county started to get their own landfill. Bowles said that property and that of their when the volunteers had friends and relatives finally finished cleanunder control, they too ing out all of the debris, lent a hand in the cleanup roughly 926,296 tons of efforts and exhibited the debris had been taken to kind of spirit that Bowles the landfill. feels makes Albany a According to KADB great community. records, volunteers asSince those intense sisting in the cleanup ef- days 20 years ago, KADB forts were asked to wear has earned numerous hard-sole shoes, gloves, awards, and become one masks and protective of Albany’s strongest voleye-wear, as well as get unteer organizations. Last a tetanus toxoid vaccina- year, 36,319 volunteers tion to avoid injury and donated 84,722 service illness because to the hours to numerous KADB hazardous nature of the programs, such as Operawork. tion Pill Drop, Stash the Those who could Trash, river cleanup and were also asked to bring others. flashlights, a first-aid “We’ve won over 40 kit, hard hats, trash bags, national awards,” Bowles Some 33,000 volunteers helped Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful cleanup the wreck- cleaning supplies and said. “Keep America age left by the Flood of ’94. (Photo courtesy of Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful) tools — such as crowBeautiful recognizes this bars, hammers, pliers, as one of the top offices saws, wrenches, screwin the nation. It’s top drivers and long wooden because of volunteers. It sticks — for turning says so much about the things over, scaring away community. They care animals that might have about their environment.” taken up residence in the Even with all the abandoned homes and things Bowles and the moving electrical wires. rest of the KADB team Bowles said those have going on these days, from out of town, who Bowles has clear memocomprised the majority ries of those days cleanof volunteers since most ing up after the flood and Albanians were either af- watching the human spirit fected directly or already triumph over adversity. helping family members Despite the difficulties who were affected, were inherent in that type of told they were responsisituation, Bowles pointed ble for finding their own out repeatedly how much lodging as well, since was accomplished behotels, shelters and non- cause people cared. flooded residences were “Nowhere when they filled to capacity. plan for disasters do they “I remember the first plan for volunteers,” call I got after we went Bowles said. “When you Volunteers from all over the country wanting to help Albany and Dougherty County re- on television was from a have a disaster and the cover from the Flood of ’94 were tasked with completely “gutting” the inside of homes guy in Pennsylvania who government is dealing that had been engulfed by flood waters. (Photo courtesy of Keep Albany-Dougherty wanted to help,” Bowles with all the complex eleBeautiful) recalled. “Even after I ments of that disaster, it’s ings, the Sheetrock, and the foundation.” piled on the curb where told him everything he up to volunteers to get appliances, everything, When the houses were public works could pick needed to know, he still in there and help to get right down to the frame done, the debris was up the waste and transsaid ‘all right’ and put things done.”

Baconton changed little by the Great Flood

By Jim West

jim.west@albanyherald.com

BACONTON — No community goes looking for a flood, but by regional standards tiny Baconton in Mitchell County stayed mostly high and dry during the Flood of ’94 that swamped much of middle and south Georgia.

In fact, its relative elevation may be what saved the town.

There was an evacuation order at the worst of the flood, which, according to

reports from the time, was followed with little complaint. Needed relief supplies were sent by Procter & Gamble, and clean drinking water became scarce.

But Baconton residents never experienced “ceilinghigh” water in their homes or businesses, like what was seen in Albany and nearby Newton.

“It never got higher than about 3 feet,” said Annette Morman, Baconton’s mayor.

Morman was a City Council member in 1994.

According to Morman

and her cousin, Anthony Morman, who is with Baconton Public Works, some homes did sustain minor damage that required repair.

No homes or public buildings, however, were lost to the flood.

In 1994, Jake Williams, then a volunteer firefighter, told The Albany Herald that water from the Flint River and from creeks north and south of Baconton formed a “horseshoe” around the town.

“Baconton would be under water if it weren’t on a

hill,” Williams said in 1994.

Baconton’s elevation is 174 feet above sea level. While Albany’s highest elevation is almost 30 feet higher at 203 feet and it sustained massive damage, most of the much smaller area of Baconton was above the floodplain.

Annette and Anthony Morman said that 20 years after the flood, there’s little evidence that any of it ever happened.

“We were blessed,” Annette Morman said.

“Yes, we were,” Anthony Morman agreed.

Annette Morman, Baconton’s mayor, and Anthony Morman, who’s with Public Works, say Baconton has changed little since the flood. (Staff Photo: Jim West)

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Broad Avenue Bridge project on schedule

By Jim Hendricks jim.hendricks @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — One of the most significant impacts that the Flood of 1994 had on Albany was the record high waters that split the community in two.

The Flint River dissects the city, creating a boundary marking East Albany and West Albany. All four of the bridges that connect the two halves of the city were shut down as the flood waters rose to 43.6 feet, eclipsing the mark set in January 1925.

Constructed in 1920 and named Memorial Bridge in memory of veterans of World War I (known as the Great War before World War II followed two decades later), the Broad Avenue bridge was the oldest — and smallest — of the four Albany bridges that traversed the Flint.

There was speculation that the flood waters would doom it.

Instead, on July 14, 1994 it became the first bridge to reopen. Pedestrians were allowed to use Memorial Bridge that first day. On July 15, it was shut down again temporarily because debris had lodged against it, while a center lane of the Oglethorpe Boulevard bridge a few hundred feet to the south was opened to pedestrian traffic. That same day, the Liberty Expressway, which also crosses the Flint, was reopened to traffic from the Mitchell County line to U.S. Highway 82 north of the Albany Mall.

That had a significant impact on those who resided on the east side of the river. Since the connections were shut down, the two parts of town had been cut off from each other.

The only way to cross from one side to the other was by helicopter or by driving to Sylvester, then north to

Work is progressing on the replacement bridge in downtown Albany that will reconnect East and West Broad Avenue. Memorial Bridge, which was constructed in 1920, survived two massive floods in 1994 and 1998, but was later torn down because its footings had eroded. The new span is set for completion on June 30, 2015. (Staff Photo: Jim Hendricks)

Cordele, west to Leslie and south through Leesburg. It was a 100-mile trip each way.

Even more critical was the loss of access to emergency health care.

With both of the hospitals operating in Albany in 1994 — Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and Palmyra Medical Center — located on the west side of the river, those on the east side looked at drives of 40 miles to get to acute care facilities.

That first morning when the Broad Avenue bridge was reopened, hundreds of people parked their cars as close as they could to it on one side of the river and walked to their jobs on the other. Those who made that initial stroll across the still-swollen Flint tended to have smiles on their faces, having found an alternative to the 200-mile daily commutes.

Even though the bridge was closed again because of the debris, for many it was an important symbol.

A town that had been divided in half was whole

again, and it was the object that reconnected everything.

But what the swift current of a river swollen to a level a person would only expect to see once in a half millennium couldn’t accomplish, age finally did.

In February 2009 — more than a decade after it survived the great flood and a second major one in 1998 — divers with the Georgia Department of Transportation inspected its footings and found they were worn to the point of being unsafe. The bridge was closed to motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and debate began on whether to rehabilitate the span or replace it with a new structure.

Georgia DOT engineers said repairing the footings would cost half of a $9 million rehabilitation project, while giving the then-92-year-old structure a maximum extended life of 35 years. New construction would have an expected lifespan of a century. The decision was made to demolish the 1920

bridge and replace it.

A last-ditch grassroots efforts was launched in December 2011 to save the historic Memorial Bridge as a pedestrian walkway.

Proponents of rehabilitating Memorial Bridge pushed the issue on social media, arguing the historical significance of the structure should be taken into account.

But on Feb. 11, 2012, — three years after the last car traveled across the bridge — Memorial Bridge was decommissioned in a ceremony. When construction is completed on the new bridge, officials said, it will be commissioned in memory of the World War I veterans, bearing the plaques that say it is “a memorial to those who went from Dougherty County to serve their country in the Great War.” The effort to save the now-decommissioned Broad Street bridge continued into the early spring, with proponents hoping to delay the start of demolition until after voters took up a regional transportation

On July 14, 1994, Memorial Bridge on Broad Avenue was reopened for pedestrian traffic. For the first time since the Great Flood divided Albany and Dougherty County in half, residents from one side of the river could get to the other without taking a 100-mile one-way drive. (Albany Herald File Photo)

special-purpose local-option sales tax referendum that included a new bridge connecting Clark Avenue in East Albany with Society Avenue on the west side. That referendum, along with the effort to preserve the bridge, failed.

In May 2012, PCL Civil Constructors Inc. of Tampa, Fla., was awarded the contract to demolish the Broad Avenue bridge and to construct a new span. The demolition project got under way that July.

When Independence Day 2015 rolls around, the new Memorial Bridge should be finished.

Nita Birmingham, spokeswoman for the Georgia DOT office in Tifton, said in a recent inter-

view that the $11.9 million bridge is on target for its June 30, 2015 completion date. As of June 16, the project was “about 60 percent done,” she said, which includes both demolition and construction.

While she said the new Broad Avenue bridge is “not significantly higher” than its predecessor, it will reach a height of 203.58 feet above sea level at its highest point.

And that may be just enough to make the trip to work a little more humane if another flood of the magnitude of the one in ’94 comes around during this new bridge’s lifespan.

“It’s just above the 500year flood stage,” Birmingham said.

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Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 13AA

Unearthed caskets one of flood’s greatest horrors

By Carlton Fletcher carlton.fletcher @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — As the flood waters of the greatest natural disaster in the region’s history bore down on the people of Albany and Southwest Georgia, thousands upon thousands of them chased from their homes — many of whom would never return — by the ever-rising waters, many asked the rhetorical question: What new horror is next?

That question was answered with a vengeance when caskets — first one or two here or there, and, eventually, hundreds — began to surface in the flood waters, forced out of their assumed final resting places by pressure from underground streams on grounds saturated with water.

By the time the flood waters of the Flint River and other nearby creeks and waterways receded, 438 caskets had washed up from Albany’s Oakview and Riverside cemeteries. Months of detailed forensics analysis led to the identification and reburial of all but 95 of the remains washed to the surface during the Flood of ’94.

Those 95 are buried now on the “hill of the unknowns,” numbers marking their final resting place as officials await some clue, some DNA evidence or some new technology that will allow them to finally identify the unfortunate souls.

New state and local burial laws have been enacted in the wake of the ‘94 flood, laws that make a repeat of the massive exhumation of caskets less likely. All burials now must be at uniform 5- to 6-foot depths. “Surface burials” in which the tops of 38-inch-deep vaults serve as grave-marker slabs for the remains no longer are allowed. Also, no burials or even cremations may be performed until funeral directors have checked and noted proper identification tags on the remains of the deceased.

Still, the gruesome visuals of caskets floating in the overflowing waters of the Flint, of remains that emerged from caskets opened by the flood waters ensnared on fences running along the perimeter of the cemeteries, have haunted the dreams of many South-

Above, flood water swept through the two cemeteries near the Flint River in downtown Albany in 1994.

(Albany Herald File Photo) Right, there are 95 unknown graves at Riverside Cemetery, the final remains of those who could not be identified after their caskets were unearthed by flood waters. (Staff Photo: Laura Williams)

west Georgians in the 20 years since the flood waters came to the region.

“There were groups of people, volunteers and city employees, who had the duty of rounding up the coffins and securing them so that they could be collected and taken to the (Exchange Club) Fairgrounds,” said Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler, a trained mortician at the time of the flood who volunteered to help Federal Emergency Management and Georgia Emergency Management agencies identify and eventually rebury the displaced dead. “I’ve seen video footage of what had to be for a lot of people some pretty horrific sights, of bodies that were found hanging from fences after some of the caskets came open.

“Years after the flood waters receded and things returned to pretty much normal around here, people would find bones and skulls that turned out to be remains of bodies that were disinterred during the flood.”

Casket retrieval volunteers told stories of sealed caskets “shooting out of the ground like rockets,” forced from graves by the pressure of the flood waters.

Images of caskets that popped out of the saturated soil during the Flood of ’94 still haunt many who went through the disaster two decades ago. (Albany Herald File Photo)

“Families have asked me about that phenomenon, and I explain to them that it’s like taking an aquarium and filling it with water, and then placing a basketball in the water and holding it down with your hand,” Albany Cemetery Manager Judge Ashe, who has been at the position going on 15 years, said. “Once the soil, which is represented by the hand holding the basketball down, is completely saturated and is washed away, the pressure forces the ball to the surface.

“The caskets that washed up from our cemeteries were from every section.

There was no pattern, no rhyme or reason. There might be eight in a row in one section, then one remained, then another one washed up a little farther down. It was all based on the soil and the amount of pressure forcing the caskets through that soil.”

Albany architect David Maschke’s family was one of those impacted by the flood water. Sylvia Weintrab, the paternal grandmother of Maschke’s wife, Carolyn, was interred in the “Jewish section” of the Oakview Cemetery when the flood waters came.

Joe Weintraub, Carolyn

Maschke’s father, was able to identify his mother’s burial clothing, one of the primary means by which officials identified disinterred remains.

“My father-in-law was able to help officials identify his mother’s remains, but he refused to allow them to rebury her in the same location,” David Maschke said.

“Despite assurances that this wouldn’t happen again, Joe and his family bought a plot about 100 to 150 feet from the original burial site.

“I have to say, though, that city officials and cemetery personnel were very concerned and compassionate during that ordeal. Our family always appreciated them handling that emergency situation very professionally.”

Fowler said he “listened to God” while making the decision to help state and federal forensics officials identify the remains that were disinterred by the flood waters.

“No one was really volunteering to help out, and I told people I was considering it,” Fowler said. “That didn’t go over well with some in the community. I was a certified mortician, working at different funeral

homes, and one funeral director told me to never come back to his funeral home if I volunteered.

“But these people were our neighbors, and I felt it was important to help them return to their proper resting places. I truly feel that God led me to volunteer.”

Once the remains in the 438 caskets were collected, they were taken to a staging ground set up at the fairgrounds. Then they were placed in refrigerated trucks and transported to Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, where forensics experts were afforded the opportunity to work in privacy.

There, Fowler said, bodies were removed from the caskets and any clothing and jewelry removed, identified and marked. The remains were thoroughly examined for tattoos or other identifying marks.

Each set of remains was assigned a case number and taken through dental, fingerprinting and x-ray exams.

Once bodies had been identified — or had undergone all physical examinations — their bones were cleaned and they were redressed in the clothing they’d originally been buried in.

Remains were placed in

new caskets and buried in new vaults, the old ones destroyed by GEMA and FEMA officials. The remains were reburied in their original gravesites — except for those cases like Sylvia Weintraub’s in which they were buried in new plots or moved elsewhere by distraught family members.

The 95 unknowns are buried in graves marked only by numbers.

“The research was conducted on all of the remains, but even with extensive testing the identities of those were never found,” Ashe said. “They will remain on our hill of the unknowns until FEMA or GEMA comes up with some new method of identifying them.”

Fowler, meanwhile, was hired by the GBI to work at its crime lab in the wake of his volunteer forensics work. He also became part of the national Disaster Mortuary Operation Response Team and has since been deployed to 17 world disaster sites, including the Thailand tsunami, the World Trade Center in New York after 9-11, post-hurricane in Haiti and a plane crash site in Guam. In 2012, he was elected Dougherty County coroner.

elevation certificate” That certificate can only be provided by a surveyor.

Lydia Livingston, of Doherty, Duggan, Hart and Tiernan Insurors, said flood insurance has gone through a “ton of changes” in recent months.

“Some major legislation was enacted back in the fall that severely impacted rates,” said Livingston. “This was especially true in the high flood zones, almost to the point that if you owned property in a coastal area you would not be able to sell the property. … They’ve rolled back some of those changes.”

Livingston said that rates for those not in a high-risk flood zone are “very reasonable and affordable.” She noted that flood insurance is available to anyone. Living in a mapped flood zone is not a prerequisite for buying flood insurance. If your community participates in the National Flood Program, flood insurance is available to you.

“I see homeowners or business owners realize because of the 1994 Flood that water can be anywhere,” she said. “There’s

no containing it.”

Livingston said Dougherty County has been remapped a couple of times in the past couple of decades.

In addition to the location of a home or business, the manner in which it is constructed can significantly impact the flood insurance rates paid, Livingston said.

“If a builder will pay attention to the elevation, the way the crawl space is constructed, what kind of venting, those things,” she said, “it can have a tremendous impact on the premium.”

Livingston said it’s not rare for a house built with crawl space and proper venting to avoid flood damage while an adjacent house on a slab to receive considerable flood damage.

The difference in flood insurance premiums for houses built in the flood plain, with proper venting and elevation “could easily be hundreds of dollars less per year,” she said.

Flooding across the country, especially in the Mississippi Delta about a decade ago, caused the National Flood Program and FEMA to evaluate all aspects of coverage and to make much

needed corrections. “It’s tightened up,” she said. “It’s become more focused on getting the right rate for the right exposure. I’ve seen the underwriting policies of the flood program tightened up, making sure people are paying premiums that better equate with the risk. There’s more focus now on whether to build on sites that might be flood prone. You’ll pay a stiffer premium if you pick an area that is more likely to flood.”

Livingston said purchasing flood insurance is often a smart decision for property owners not in flood zones.

“Property owners need to recognize that most everyone is susceptible to flooding,” Livingston said.

“It may be the No. 1 natural disaster in the United States.

A lot of people in this area who were not in a previously documented flood zone got flooded.”

Livingston said the expense can be negated by getting a policy with a high deductible (possibly $5,000).

“It’s a huge risk and some people don’t take it as seriously as they should,” she said. “I encourage people to get a quote.”

Planning department helps with flood insurance questions

By Danny Carter danny.carter @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — They called it a 500-year flood in 1994 — one so severe that statistically it should only should occur every 500 years.

Statistics aside, it could happen anytime. If so, there are 7,127 parcels of land in Dougherty County that lie in the flood zone that likely would be flooded. Of these, 5,284 are inside the city of Albany. Those were the sites that bore the brunt of the property damage 20 years ago and that likely would face the biggest challenges in a future flood.

Mary Teter, planning manager with AlbanyDougherty Planning and Development Services, said 4,870 of those parcels have buildings on them.

If there is any doubt if your property is in the flood zone, Teter’s office is the place to call. Planning and Development Services is the keeper of the flood maps provided by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and can be reached at (229) 438-3930.

“We get calls very often,” Teter said. “We let them

Mary Teter, planning manager for the Albany-Dougherty Planning and Development Services, and Planning Director Paul Forgey check out the flood maps for Dougherty County. There are 7,127 parcels in Dougherty located within the flood zone. (Staff photo: Danny Carter)

know if they need an elevation certificate and need to see a surveyor. We can provide a list.”

Teter said the department has “an aggressive outreach program” as part of its ISO component to keep insurance rates reasonable. She said any questions pertaining to flood insurance can be obtained through her office, through materials in the public library or through the department’s websites at www.albany.ga.gov.

Teter credits former Planning Department staff members Elizabeth Dean

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and Peggy Hegarty for expanding education outreach on flood preparedness, floodplain regulations and flood insurance.

One thing that has changed in the past 20 years, however, is that much more emphasis in placed on flood insurance.

“The biggest thing now is the elevation certificate,” said Albany real estate professional Jayme Cobb.

“People need to understand if they are doing any type of real estate transaction and they are in the flood zone, they have to have an

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Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 15AA

Radium Springs a different place after flood

By Jennifer Parks

used to be the golf course, of water got into his home. were purchased by DoughThe damage from the erty County, resulting in a water put him in a trailer ALBANY — After corridor of protected land in his backyard for two flood waters came through along the Flint River. to three months while his in July 1994, the Radium As with some of the oth- belongings were all pulled Springs area of East Aler businesses in the area, out and his home — about bany was a different place. one thing learned was the a mile from the Flint River The Radium Country Club impact flood waters could — was torn up and rebuilt. eventually closed down, have on an area, such as Many in the neighborhood, the Radium Springs CaRadium Springs that is Fuller said, got buyouts. sino site was turned into a already low-lying.

Some of those who stayed botanical garden and many “It is definitely a flood- had to have their houses of the residents who used prone area,” Ealum said. elevated, and Fuller said to live in the area have “This day and time, nohe saw his flood insurance moved on. body would think of build- quadruple.

Among the most noticeing a golf course there.

“We hadn’t been in the able differences is the “My house was close home long enough, so we absence of the landmark to the golf course, and it refinanced and we stayed,” casino. After being delwas totally blocked. You he said. uged by the floods in 1994 couldn’t even get to the The dynamic has and 1998, causing sigwest side of town. It totally changed somewhat near nificant structural damage, The Radium Springs Casino building as seen during the Flood of 1994 that hit South- froze this area.” where he lives, but not necwest Georgia. (Albany Herald File Photo) the 76-year-old building Now that much of the essarily because of vacanwas demolished in Octoland in Radium Springs cies. The change was posiber 2003 despite multiple cannot be built upon, the tive in that after the flood, efforts to save it. With the argument can be made that the neighborhood became footprint of the casino still the inability to develop it is a more diverse melting pot, there, a 2004 study was a blessing.

Fuller said. done on the area resulting “It is all gone, but we “When we moved out in the development of the have the natural beauty of here, the homes were Radium Gardens master the land now,” Ealum said. mostly occupied by whites. plan.

“The public owns the natu- Now there are black In 2010, the first phase ral area and its beauty. We families in four of the six of that project was opened have a lot of natural beauty houses (that used to be octo the public following an in that area. cupied by whites),” he said. $830,000 investment. A “It’s never going to “The population reflects $76,500 contract was later be back like it was. The Albany at large. People approved for the second population is not there. have moved on, opening up phase of the project. It There is the natural terrain more space. has since become home to and springs. … It belongs “Homes became more various forms of plant life to the public, and there is a affordable for folks. It is and a butterfly pollinator plan in place to enhance its a good place to live with garden. A plan was recombeauty.” a good reputation. People mended late last year for The residents of Radium saw an opportunity. … It a series of hiking, biking Springs pulled together just provided an opporSignage in the Radium Springs area of Albany was seen just barely above the water and horse-riding trails on during the flood, but in the tunity for families to get during the Flood of 1994. (Albany Herald File Photo) what was previously the weeks and months that fol- single-family houses.” golf course. was debt free. After, it attempted to revive it. got hammered twice. Ra- lowed, many of those living As far as the recovery During the flood, borrowed money to help The golf course was at dium Springs is lower in there moved elsewhere be- efforts were concerned, it Dougherty County School repair the damage and, a disadvantage in that half the flood plain.” cause they couldn’t rebuild. did bring the community Board member Darrel following the 1998 flood, of it sat on lower ground, In the period after the Some abandoned homes together for a while, but Ealum hosted in his home the decision was made to which caused a problem flood, new golf courses are still standing. aside from changes to several families from build a dam nearby that anytime there was signifi- were being built in the David Fuller, a former the landscape at Radium that area who had been cost hundreds of dollars to cant rainfall.

Dougherty and Lee journalist and Southwest Springs, there was not displaced. While not in build.

“Anytime they had a County area, causing Georgia native, has lived much of a lasting impact, ownership of the Radium The golf course had hard rain, it would come some of those who had in the Radium Springs area Fuller said.

Country Club at the time, gone from being owned by back southside and close been loyal to Radium to since 1989. He lost what “We did,” he said when Ealum did see the afterthe membership, operatdown the bottom nine,” he play elsewhere. Meanhe had in 1994, and most asked if he thought the math of the flood on the ing by a board and debt said. “The top nine was while, Ealum was putting of those who were living community had recovered golf course when it came free, to being deep in debt. played twice. … The ’94 in $10,000 a month of there at the time have long well. “The casino was into his hands six years Ealum said the club was flood everyone remembers, his money to help keep it moved on. He, however, torn down and the garden later. Before the 1994 $1 million in debt when he but the ’98 flood was very afloat. In 2008, the roughly chose to stay and rebuild, is there. Overall, things flood, he said, the club acquired the property and serious. Areas like Radium 200 acres comprising even after more than 5- feet out pretty well.”

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16 AA •Saturday, June 28, 2014

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Tropical Storm Alberto claimed 31 lives in 1994

By Mary Braswell

he tried to cross on foot.

— Oscar Brown, 84, of Americus, was washed out of his mobile home.

July 5, 1994 — Freddie Hawkins, 35, — Teresa Beyah, 31, of and his sons, Courtney, Griffin, died in Spalding 8, and Kedrick, 16, were County when her car hit a washed away in their washed-out section of road. pickup truck in Americus.

— Gloria Dixon, 16, of — Hilton Howard, 42, of Rockdale County, was Smithville, was washed out swept away while trying to of his car in Americus. rescue a friend’s dog from — Kathy Rena Hurley, a flooded ditch.

35, and her son, John, 2, — Marty Folsom, 35, of Americus, were swept of Bolingbroke and Lisa away in their car in AmeriShepherd, 25, of McRae cus. died when their pickup — Idell Jackson, mid-60s, truck fell into a sinkof Americus was swept out hole that opened up in a of her house as she and her submerged parking lot in husband slept. He survived.

Macon.

— Chad Jones, 18, — William Miller of drowned while riding Tifton was swept off Ga. an inner tube with three Highway 87 in his car in friends on the rain-swollen Monroe County. His wife Towaliga River in Henry survived by clinging to County. a tree for more than nine — Eugene Marner, 40, hours. his son, Kent, 10, of Cor— John F. Peavy, 54, nettsville, Ind., and Roger of Experiment, Ga., died Cornelius, 40, of Washwhen his car hydroplaned ington, Ind., were washed and collided with a away in a tractor trailer wrecker. near Americus.

— Richard Rodgers, 20, — Walter Davenport of Stone Mountain, died Stapleton III, 17, of Sumin a two-car collision on ter County, was stringing a rain-drenched DeKalb telephone lines on Lake County road.

Corinth when his boat — Jack Shiver, 40, of capsized.

Fayette County, died when — Gloria Tatum, 28, of he went into Line Creek Americus, was believed to to tie a rope to a bridge to have been washed out of keep it from being pulled a car. away.

— Tomeka Woodham, 20, of Sumter County, was July 6, 1994 washed off the road in a — Josephine Anderson, car in Americus.

60, of Americus, was washed out of her car when July 7, 1994 it was swept into a creek.

— Ishkabah Tanatrous — Douglas Kenneth Bas- Linkhorn, 28, of Albany, sett, 32, of Macon, was did not show up for work washed off a train trestle as that day at an Albany mary.braswell @albanyherald.com

On the 20th Anniversary of one of Albany’’ greatest natural disaster – the Water, Gas, and Light Commission/ The City of Albany wants to take this opportunity to thank Water, Gas & Light, City and County employees for their efforts and the citizens who worked tirelessly to make Albany whole again. These two monuments stand as a reminder of those selfless acts.

Let us pray for lives lost and give prayers of thanks for those lives reclaimed…

steakhouse. His body was found July 10 floating and hooked on a fence at the rear of a Cochran Avenue home. Authorities did not identify the body until July 16 because fingerprinting equipment was under water. The death was ruled a drowning.

— William Wallace, 41, of Albany, was believed to have drowned that day as he searched for his mother who was safely housed in a shelter. He was swept into a drainage canal. His body was found July 19.

July 8, 1994 — Kason and Shabazz Mallory, both 4, of Jersey City, N.J., were washed away in their family car by flood waters of the Flint River in Albany.

July 13, 1994 — Pearlie Mae Brantley, 59, of Albany, was found floating in the kitchen of her home. After refusing to evacuate, she spent three days and two nights clinging to her husband and the refrigerator as he balanced on attic beams in the sweltering heat.

On the third night, she went down. David, her husband of 38 years, managed to survive the attic’s heat for six days and seven nights, eating nothing and drinking brown flood water, before being rescued.

July 14, 1994 — Maureen Johnson, 71, of Dawson, died when her car hit a culvert on a washed-out, closed road in Terrell County.

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The “Flood of 94”Flood of 94 left many without power. Service Technician Howard Scarborough and many others worked tirelessly to restore power to as many Mitchell EMC members as possible. Many brought personal boats, so they could reach lines and get the power back on. Howard Scarborough and Homer Chambers paddled half a mile to reach the line seen in the picture. He put on his equipment and stepped out of the boat and right onto the pole. As Howard told his story he said, “it was my duty to go above and beyond to get the power back on.” Howard has been dedicated to that statement for 46 years.

A lot has changed in the past 20 years since the flood, but the dedication of Mitchell EMC to their community “to go above and beyond” remains a top priority.

Howard Scarborough stands by the same pole he paddled half a mile to by boat in 1994.

EMC office locations: 475 Cairo Highway P.O. Box 409 Camilla, GA 31730 229-336-5221 or 1-800-479-6034�

5807 Newton Road P.O. Box 3486 Albany, GA 31706 229-436-0070� www.mitchellemc.com

208 Dexter Wilson Blvd P.O. Box 464 Sylvester, GA 31791 229-776-3386�

albanyherald.com

Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 17AA

Albany finds ways to mitigate division from disaster

By Brad McEwen brad.mcewen @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — In some ways Albany has been a divided community, but never has that division been more clearly defined than during the catastrophic Flood of 1994 when the Flint River burst from its banks and literally cut the community in half.

Unprepared for a disaster of that magnitude, the city’s Emergency Management Services officials were scrambling as the flood waters swamped much of the town, leaving residents on the east side of the swollen river without access to health care and other critical services. Stories abound of residents being taken by helicopter or boat to shelters and hospitals, or having to commute nearly 100 miles one way to get to work or reach their families.

Through those hard lessons, however, steps have been taken to ensure that residents throughout the community, regardless of their location, now have access to more resources and that those who manage those resources are better prepared should such a disaster strike again.

According to Albany Fire Department Chief James Carswell, who, during the flood, served as one of two assistant fire chiefs with the department, the biggest changes that have occurred since 1994 are improvements in technology, improved resources and improved partnerships with different agencies across the state.

Carswell said that while many changes have come about as a direct result of the Flood of ’94, one of the biggest has been enabled through the advancement of technology.

In 1994, emergency workers had to rely on information from the National Weather Service (NWS) to know how much water was coming and when it would arrive. Carswell said emergency personnel first met to review NWS information and start planning a course of action the afternoon/ evening of July 6. Based on the information at hand, it was believed personnel had roughly two days to get people evacuated and prepare in advance of the Flint’s crest.

That meeting ended at 11 p.m. Just a few hours later came the realization that the situation was much worse then originally thought.

“We went home that night and by 2 o’clock in the morning we were already rescuing people off the rooftops,” Carswell said. “It literally went from no water at all to rooftops in a matter of four hours. It took us by surprise, took everybody by surprise.”

Thanks to technological improvements, including improved weather tracking and water level detection, Carswell feels emergency planners today would not be caught off guard and could better respond as situations arose.

“The National Weather Service has a much better way of tracking not only the rivers, but also the creeks,” Carswell said. “Back then, not only on the rivers but on the creeks in particular, there were all manual measuring devices and now they do a lot more stuff with satellite.”

Another way technology would improve overall response to a similar situation is through the development of better communications equipment, such as smart phones and radios, and ac-

Albany Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Ronald Rowe spent most of his days during the Flood of 1994 rescuing citizens from rooftops and trees by boat. (Staff Photos: Brad McEwen)

Albany Fire Chief James Carswell said the emergency personnel and community leaders left a late meeting the night of July 6, 1994 thinking they had two days to prepare for the worst from rising waters generated by Tropical Storm Alberto. “We closed the meeting around 11 p.m.,” said Carswell. “By 2 a.m., we were getting rescue calls.”

Albany Fire Chief James Carswell says measures have been put in place that would prevent many of the issues that arose during the Flood of 1994.

Emergency Management Deputy Director Jim Vaught, who during the Flood of 1994 was an active duty Marine at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany says Albany now has two federal agreements in place with MCLB-Albany ensuring joint cooperation in times of disaster.

Albany Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Ronald Rowe feels emergency management workers and citizens are better prepared for disaster since the Flood of 1994.

cess to Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

In 1994, emergency personnel working around the clock to rescue people had to rely on older radios and an overall lack of them.

Assistant Fire Chief Ron Rowe, who at the time was a firefighter who spent most of his time during the flood piloting a rescue boat, said rescue crews out on the water saving people couldn’t communicate with one another or home base because of a lack of available radios.

“I was in a boat for four days and had one radio that worked sparingly,” Rowe said. “Every person now has their own radio.”

Not only does every EMT and fireman have a radio now, they all likely have smart phones that can

be used not only to communicate, but to access GPS coordinates, making their jobs infinitely easier.

“Technology’s helped a lot,” said Carswell. “With the phone systems, everybody’s phone has GPS and the boat we have now has GPS on it. 911 can see exactly where (someone is) standing and give us GPS coordinates and take the boat to you based on those coordinates. In ’94, we had to rely on landmarks.”

In addition to technological improvements, there also have been important advancements in resources and how those resources are distributed.

Because flood waters rose so quickly and because many people did not heed evacuation warnings,

a considerable amount of time and resources were spent performing rescues throughout the community.

Carswell and Rowe said emergency staff spent days performing hundreds of “extraordinary rescues” — getting people from rooftops and trees across the city.

One hindrance making those rescues difficult was that the fire department only had one boat and had to borrow boats from citizens, primarily emergency staffers, and from Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany.

“It was strictly a rescue operation and that’s what we were lacking — boats and people to operate them,” Carswell said. “The rescue boat that we had at that time only had a 20-horse Mercury engine, which does OK

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in normal circumstances.

But the water was moving so fast down the river that we couldn’t go east or west across the river. We couldn’t go upstream.”

Carswell said the department now has three boats, all of which are designed to handle not only specific functions but also to be utilized in the event of another flood. In addition, the department is working to procure a fourth boat to be used for the department’s new dive team, another resource that would be available in the event of a flood.

While having necessary access to resources like boats to rescue people stranded in flood waters, another major obstacle during 1994 was inadequate health care services.

Once the city was effectively cut in half, with both hospitals (Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and Palmyra Medical Centers) on the west side of the river, residents in east Albany had no real access to health care resources.

Anyone who needed to travel from the east side to the west was faced with a 90- to 100-mile commute north by way of Cordele and Leslie, then back south to Albany. Therefore ambulance service between the east and west parts of the county was rendered almost non-existent.

Today not only does Phoebe Putney operate Phoebe East on the east side of the city, which offers medical support to the community, but emergency management can now deploy a M.A.S.H.-like unit anywhere in the city.

“One of the things that we realized after the flood was our limitations on the east side in regard to medical facilities,” said Carswell.

“One of the things we’ve done since then is District Health has a M.A.S.H. tent now that we can deploy and set up a medical facility anywhere we want to. If we have a situation in the future we can set this up and district health has that available for us.”

For the improvements in technology and resources that have been made, however, Carswell said two of the most important changes that have occurred since 1994 are improvements across the state and local levels to strengthen partnerships and the increased focus of the Georgia Emergency Management

Agency (GEMA) on natural disasters.

In 1994, no one had conceived of such a large a disaster with widespread flooding of the magnitude of the ’94 event. No agreements were in place to ensure different organizations would be able to share resources and work together to deal with such a situation.

Fortunately, private individuals, corporate partners and different agencies came together to help in ’94, but now there are even stronger agreements in place to ensure cooperation.

One such partnership that now exists is between Albany and MCLB-Albany.

According to EMA Deputy Director Jim Vaught, who during 1994 was an active duty Marine stationed at MCLB-Albany, there are formal agreements in place for aid and cooperation.

“We actually have a federal agreement now with the Marine base, two of them, for fire services and also for 911 communications,” Vaught said. “Should they lose their capability, they can come in and we’ll make room for them, and vice versa.”

In addition to that understanding, various other agreements now exist between different agencies and counties throughout the state, thanks to a change in focus for GEMA. Carswell believes that because of the Flood of 1994, GEMA shifted its focus from Cold War defense issues to natural disaster threats.

“We have better partnerships with all the other players in the region,” Carsell said. “Even from the state perspective, this has been a learning experience. All the counties in Georgia, through GEMA, signed a mutual aid agreement, so every county is of mutual aid to every other county in the state on these types situations. So, our resources are shared resources across all the counties. So, that’s kind of the big umbrella everything else falls under.”

Vaught summed it up: “We’re part of GEMA Area 2, which is made up of 23 counties in Southwest Georgia and it’s basically anytime we’re in an emergency that’s beyond our capabilities its one for all, all for one.”

In fact, it is the general sentiment of all for one, one for all that Carswell, Rowe and Vaught feel is the real key to how well the community handled the flood of ’94. It’s also the reason the three think the community could withstand a disaster of similar magnitude.

Despite all the new training, technology, resources and partnerships, the biggest lesson learned by emergency responders and the community as a whole was that by pulling together, the local residents can accomplish what needs to be done.

“It’s one of those things I would say of our community; we can be at odds with each other occasionally, but I’ve never seen it when in a time of need it didn’t come together,” Carswell said. “When there’s a need, somebody steps up and takes care of it.

“In my career, almost 42 years, I’ve never seen the community not come together in a time of need.

Now, two weeks later they may be fussing about some other stuff, but during that crisis, I’ve never seen them not come together. It was pretty amazing then and it amazes me every time. This community will put all of their differences aside and help each other out in a time of need.”

18AA •Saturday, June 28, 2014

albanyherald.com

Duffy, Prisant recall their escape from rising waters

By Terry Lewis

terry.lewis@albanyherald.com

ALBANY — In 1994, as Fourth of July celebrations wound down, Harry Prisant sat in his house on Lover’s Lane Road and began to grow nervous. Three straight days of torrential rain will do that to a man with a house sitting on the banks of Lake Chehaw.

Prisant was not alone in his concern.

“Americus had 26 inches of rain in three days. We knew the water was coming south and it was coming our way,” Prisant said.

“On the afternoon of the 6th, I decided it was time to get the vehicles out, but by then water was over Jefferson and it was too late.

We went back to the house, drank a few adult beverages and waited for daylight.”

Overnight, Prisant said, the water had risen 10 to 12 feet and it was time to get out.

“I got into my little fishing boat with Shanda, the three cats and the dog, and we headed down Lover’s Lane looking for high ground,” Prisant recalled.

“As we turned south onto Jefferson I noticed that I couldn’t see the bridge over the lake, it was completely under water. The whole scene was eerie and surreal. But when I think back now, what I remember most is the horrible stench in the air.

“We got all the way to Philema Road before we finally found help.”

Prisant’s house got 5 feet of water in it and was later razed. To add insult to injury, Prisant had just renewed his flood insurance, and trying to save money, covered just the remaining balance of his mortgage — $11,000. He received word the coverage had been approved on July 2.

“Yeah, I made a mistake and it cost me some

Ernie Mosely carries George, the pet hamster of Teresa Brogdon, right, as they wade through the parking lot of the Rain Tree Apartment complex flooded by rising water from the nearby Kinchafoonee Creek on July 8, 1994. Also pictured are Doug Judy, far left, and Linda Kidd, far right. (File Photo)

ent beginning.

“We had sold our old house and had planned on moving out on July 10,” Duffy said. “We had a party on the Fourth, and we got a call from the buyers asking if we could move out by the fifth. We almost finished moving stuff out of the house when the water in the creek began to rise.”

After the house was empty, Duffy said he was standing about 75 feet Ed Duffy was lucky. He sold and moved out of his old Harry Prisant called the from the creek bank when house on Creekside Drive the day before the Kincha- Flood of 1994 “a bless- he saw something that foonee Creek came out of its banks. (Staff Photo: Terry ing in disguise.” He built sticks with him today.

“The creek was still in Lewis) a better house than his old home on Lover’s Lane its banks, then I saw water money,” Prisant said. “But tion and new windows, so I Road that was ravaged by rushing down stream. I as things turned out, the took out a loan and built a the rising waters of Lake looked down, and all of Chehaw. (Staff Photo: Terry a sudden I realized I was flood was actually a bless- new one.” ing in disguise. My old Ed Duffy lives on Creek- Lewis) standing in 2 or 3 inches of house didn’t have central side Drive on the Kinchaways, his story is similar water,” Duffy said. “It was heat and air, needed insulafoonee Creek.

In many but with a decidedly around then that my son, 419110 6X10.75 flood miller coors 6.28.14.crtr - Page 1 - differComposite

Paul, called and said ‘Dad, you better get out of there … now.’”

As the creek continued to rise, Duffy fled.

Not everyone got out as quickly. When Duffy built his house, he laid the foundation 7 feet above the previous record flood high.

It was the last house on the street to flood. Six people sought refuge in the house before finally being forced to spend the night on the roof.

They were rescued the following morning.

The Kinchafoonee crested at 26 feet on July 7 — 13 feet above flood stage.

Duffy eventually built a new house on an adjoining lot, but this time he built it , feet higher than his old house.

albanyherald.com

Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 19AA

Flood recovery moves Newton westward

By Jennifer Parks jennifer.parks @albanyherald.com

NEWTON — On July 7, 1994, evacuations began in Newton for what was expected to be a record Flint River crest of 45 feet.

Expectations were that the water would flood the first floor of the downtown courthouse.

After seeing the devastation in Americus and Albany, businesses loaded inventory and furniture. Access to and from the city on certain roadways was restricted.

Residents loaded anything that would carry belongings.

Plywood was attached to buildings, and arrangements were made with neighboring Mitchell County for prisoner housing when the downtown Baker County Jail had to be emptied.

By July 10, the downtown area — including City Hall and the courthouse — was submerged under 10 feet of water. The water and electricity were off. Churches were serving donated food to evacuees in shelters despite some of these facilities being unable to offer people a place to sleep.

The Georgia State Patrol, the Department of Natural Resources and the National Guard were among those brought in to help maintain order and to help with relief efforts. Some were coordinating the efforts with city and county officials working in tents.

In the end, more than 1,000 Baker County residents were forced from their homes. In the days after the flood water came in, it was unclear when they would be able to return to their houses. When the waters subsided, the task was to reconstruct Newton, a farm-

An aerial view of downtown Newton as seen in the days immediately following the Flood of 1994. (Albany Herald File Photo)

ing community of about 700 people, while its citizens attempted to rebuild their lives with mixed emotions on the flood’s impact.

Mike Tabb, who at the time was serving as the chair of the Baker County Commission, recalled the greatest impact being the number of homes that were flooded, as well as the resulting damage. It had a tremendous impact on the downtown area, which had already started a move to higher ground to the west with the construction of a new bridge and bypass.

“After dealings with FEMA or GEMA, downtown couldn’t be rebuilt, except for the courthouse,” he said. “We restored it (to look) as good as it did when it was built.”

At least $500,000 in funding came through to restore the courthouse. Not long after the damage was repaired from the 1994 flood, more

flooding came through in 1998. That second flood got 18 inches deep inside the courthouse, which meant the floor in the building had to be replaced.

After the flood, federal and state agencies said they would spend money on a buyout program that included 80 damaged properties and 70 acres. A few had their houses restored, while others were razed.

Some houses are still sitting empty.

“About two-thirds of Newton was flooded,” Tabb said. “(The water) backed through neighborhoods and streets and into neighborhoods not flooded before.

Many of those homes were replaced. The smaller, older houses never really recovered.”

When the water was still shallow enough, there were children playing in it — something that was discouraged after it became evident

that Albany’s storm system had been overwhelmed with flood waters, bringing some of the raw sewage downstream.

“There wasn’t anything they could do,” the former Baker County commissioner said. “It was just flooded.”

In Baker County, there was enough damage to downtown to justify sizable disaster funds for the replacement of the emergency medical services building and the jail. A former elementary school building was renovated into a courthouse, where it remains today, with the help of free labor from the Georgia Department of Corrections. The city also got a new water system with a relocated well after the hill on which the town’s well — a spot that had never flooded — went under water, contaminating the well.

About $2 million in funding was made available to help with that.

While the area did not recover in some ways as well as it could have, in other respects Newton came out just as good, if not better, with new government buildings or more ideal housing situations after residents moved further west.

“We came out pretty good in restoring what we had,” Tabb said. “Overall, we recovered. We recovered; we did the best we could with what we had to work with. “… In many respects, we came out better than we were. I wish we could have built everything new.”

As with everywhere else affected by the Flood of ’94, the people of Newton proved to be resilient.

“People as a whole came together and cooperated to recover from what was going on,” Tabb said. “I would have loved to see more recovery, (but we were) realistic to know that we couldn’t afford it. Some didn’t move out of trailers.

“I didn’t get to work for two or three months. I helped with recovery. When it was all said and done, the people remembered who they saw. I learned a lot about disaster recovery.”

Among those who saw a long recovery from the flood was V.T. Akridge, a lifelong resident of Newton. Believing the water would not get into his home, he merely locked the doors and walked away. The water ended up rising in his home to a height of 5 feet. It took six months to repair so that he could move back in.

For him, at least, the greatest impact was the hard work and the expense to the tune of $70,000 to get his house restored. “(I thought) the water could not possibly come

inside,” he recalled. “We lost all the furniture. I didn’t believe it would possibly happen. I locked the door and just walked away. I was thinking that they had to be wrong; (flood waters) had never gotten in before.”

The silver lining was that his house got new wiring, as well as insulation. In 1998, he prepared for the water to reach a depth of 6 inches — which it never did. “(In 1998) I was altogether too ready, and the water didn’t come close to the house,” Akridge said.

His attitude toward the Flood of ’94 did not reflect those of others who lived in the Newton area at the time.

“Most people took the ’94 flood seriously,” he said. “I don’t know of anyone else who locked their door and walked away like I did.”

When reflecting on the change in Newton since then, Akridge described it as “a mixed bag.” The biggest change, from his perspective, was the relocation of downtown to a higher elevated area presumed to be less prone to flooding.

Most people came back, and those who didn’t built new homes.

“In some ways, yes, and in other ways, no,” Akridge said when asked his opinion as to whether Newton recovered. “(What I miss most) is the old town. It was centered around downtown. Now it is spread out.”

After all the hard work and the cost of trying to rebuild Newton, there is one thing the lifelong resident said has not changed.

“The people are very much the same,” Akridge said. “There was a lot of cooperation in trying to help each other. They were all in it together.”

By the numbers sanitary and secure Up to 18 months — Maximum assistance with rent 200 — FEMA trailers set up in Dougherty County 200 — Travel trailers set up in Dougherty County

By Mary Braswell mary.braswell @albanyherald.com

While the figures concerning dollar amounts and damages changed frequently, the facts never did. People, thousands of them, lost their homes, belongings and way of life, some temporarily, others permanently.

PEOPLE 6,340 — The number of evacuees who were housed in 38 shelters in Dougherty County 23,000 — The number of people who lost their homes 225 — The number of homes that were rebuilt within the first year following the flood 5,884 — The number of families that received some type of flood aid 1,024 — Number of people rescued from the rising water 1,885 — Number of people housed in 750-square-foot FEMA trailers 520 — Number of patients transported by the Georgia Army National Guard, 148th Medical Company, in a 12-day period 2,800 — Number of uniformed National Guard personnel assigned to Albany 175,000 — Number of people across the state who were without drinking water 2,000 — Number of people who were out of work in Albany as a direct result of the flood 30,000 —Number of elderly Georgians affected by the flood 200 (at least) — Marine Corps Logistics BaseAlbany personnel who

Keon Harris, 18 months old, napping at the Albany High School Red Cross shelter on July 9, 1994. (Albany Herald file photo)

issued blankets and cots, as well as transportation to shelters 200 (at least)— Additional MCLB-Albany employees and service personnel who filled sandbags and assisted with other needs

PROPERTY DAMAGE 9,200 — The estimated number of homes damaged in Dougherty County 7 percent — Damaged ANIMALS Albany homes where the 200 — Dogs housed at owner had flood insurthe Albany Humane Soci- ance ety as of July 11 $114 million — Damage 60 — Cats housed at the to dwellings Albany Humane Society $10 million — Damage as of July 11 sustained by Georgia 800 — Number of Power’s two facilities animals (including dogs, $5 million — Crisp cats, horses, rabbits, County Power Combirds) rescued in the first mission’s damage at its three days of the flood; earthen hydro dam at many were in temporary Lake Blackshear foster care $40 million — Albany 30 — Pigmy goats that State College infrastrucdrowned at Chehaw ture 8 — Other animals that $100 million — Albany drowned at Chehaw, State College buildings including one baby 180 — Businesses afllama, one turkey, one fected (1,900-pound) bison, two 10 percent — Affected hyrax, two wallabies and business that had flood one mule insurance 500 pounds — Pet food $17 million — Damage given to the Albany Huto businesses mane Society within the 23 square miles — Land first week of the flood under water in Dougherty $15,000 — Thronateeska County

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DONATIONS $1 million — Pharmaceutical products from Merck & Co. $122,251 — Cash through the Albany Area Interfaith Rebuilding Coalition (1994 only) A caravan from the Mormon Church, 5,000 strong, arrived at the YMCA on Gillionville Road to help flood vic- 60 —Families that received new furniture from tims with the cleanup. (Albany Herald File Photo) a store owner in Lawrenceburg, Tenn.

400,000 — Acreage of of homes in the flood$275,000 — Flood relief farmland affected (state- plain (Albany) through the United Way wide) $7.5 million — To (not including direct $500 million — The construct 99 low-income donations to member estimated damage to housing units agencies) Dougherty County roads, $892,125 — For the pur- $912,923 — Flood relief bridges and other public chase and demolition of through the Albany Red facilities homes within Dougherty Cross 1,500 — Homes damCounty $4 million — Cash donaaged in Lee County $717,375 — Commutions given through the nity Development Block Salvation Army VOLUNTEERS Grants (Dougherty $100,000 — Cash given 5,000 — Number of volCounty)

by Miller Brewing unteers from the Mormon $33 million — Individual $100,000 — Cash given Church relief for housing and

by Procter & Gamble 6,000 — Additional volfamily grants $145,000 — Value of unteers, from individuals $2.4 million — Recredonated diapers, toilet to various church groups ational facilities paper, adult briefs, paper 52 — Air Force Academy $4.5 million — Two towels and napkins from cadets shopping centers P&G 70 — Member churches $11.5 million — Cleanup $100,000 — Bobs of the Albany Area Inter- and water purification Candies for distribufaith Rebuilding Coalition $950,000 — Businesses tion among employees (AAIRC) that were impacted severely affected by the 350 (at least) — Home$1.6 million — New day flood owners assisted by care facility $10,000 — Flood relief AAIRC through services, $200,000 — Historic dollars from Kroger Co. supplies and volunteer preservation 11,000 gallons — Coors labor $250,000 — Restoration Brewing Co.’s donation of for small industrial busiRocky Mountain bottled FEDERAL ASSISTANCE nesses water $82.8 million — Com$2.9 million — EmerThis list is a reflection munity Development gency food stamps (in Block Grants to restore/ the first three days of the of all the money and time rebuild neighborhoods flood) given so freely by compa(Albany) $11,000 — Minimum nies and groups of people $22 million — For the grant to homeowners but does not include every purchase and demolition for making a home safe, donation or volunteer.

20AA • Saturday, June 28, 2014

albanyherald.com

1994 FLOOD HAD LASTING IMPACT ON LOCAL COCA-COLA BOTTLER Thank you Albany for your support, and for allowing us to “Make YOUR Home a DREAM Home” since 1965!

As the Albany community marks the 20th anniversary of the Flint River flood, it is interesting that this devastating natural disaster has had a lasting impact on a local company and its employees across the Southeast.

Twenty years ago this summer, South Albany was devastated by floodwaters brought on by Tropical Storm Alberto. When the Flint River crested at 43 feet, more than 20,000 residents were forced to evacuate, and 23 square miles of Dougherty County were underwater.

Albany was declared a disaster area, and countless volunteers made their way to South Georgia to help the city rebuild, including local employees of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated.

Bob Bedell, then Georgia region manager, recalls his time spent in Albany, “The damage was devastating.

I had never seen anything like it. Because the flood left some 300,000 people without sanitary drinking water, we knew drinking water was going to be a huge problem,” says Bedell, “We did what we could to get drinking water to the community as quickly as possible.”

Wayne Purvis, a Territory Manager for Coca-Cola Consolidated, volunteered alongside Bedell. He remembers, “I basically went into supermarkets and replaced bad product with fresh product so no one would get sick. We also helped residents move their furniture and stored it for them until they could return to their homes.”

Another volunteer from Coca-Cola Consolidated, Wayne Bohannon, stayed in Albany for roughly three weeks to provide services to the community, “I moved product around, which was more difficult than it sounds.

A lot of roads were shut down, so most of the time I was taking a 60-mile detour every day. We just wanted to do anything we could.”

Senior VP of Corporate Affairs, Lauren Steele, also spent time in Albany after the flood. “At Coca-Cola Consolidated our Company Purpose is to ‘Honor God in all We Do’. In times of natural disasters we are blessed to have so many employees going above and beyond the norm to pursue that Purpose. As a company, we wanted to do what we could to help the community,” he said.

“But we also needed to help our own employees who had suffered from the flood. In an ironic twist of fate, this disaster has had a longstanding impact on Coca-Cola Consolidated and its 5,000 employees across the Southeast. Because of the Flint River flood, we started our employee disaster relief fund, which helped our employees in the Albany area get back on their feet and has helped hundreds of others over the last 20 years.”

Although the Coca-Cola facility is no longer in use, in 2010, the company donated the plant to Sherwood Baptist Church as a community center, making Coca-Cola forever a part of Albany’s community.

We pride ourselves on our large quantity of stock products and our Albany location offers the largest natural stone yard in South Georgia.

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albanyherald.com

Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 21 AA

Flash flooding makes island of Americus

By Kim Purrier

kim.purrier@albanyherald.com

AMERICUS — “It’s sheer disaster.” Those were the words used by former Americus Fire Chief Steve Moreno on July 6, 1994 to describe the aftermath of the previous day, when more than 21 inches of rain fell in Sumter County in just 24 hours.

At least nine earthen dams around Muckalee and Town creeks had begun to collapse in the late night hours of July 5. Sumter County was in trouble, and no one could have predicted what would happen next. After all, Sumter County was not even a part of Georgia’s floodplain.

The flash flooding was sudden, unpredictable and deadly. There was no time for evacuation warnings, no chance to put up preventative barricades, sandbags, or road blocks.

Even if there had been, it would not have mattered.

“The power and cable all went out during the night,” said WDEC/WISK broadcaster Donnie McCrary.

When he realized that something big was happening, he attempted to go into work to Americus’ only local radio station. After all, someone had to inform the people with radio access.

McCrary tried four different ways to get to work.

“As a precaution, I tried to go down Forsyth Street over the viaduct. There was a full-size Bronco in front of me, and I was in a Blazer. He turned to go north, and after about 20 feet he stopped and his flashers came on. I knew there was no way.” Water had already begun to overtake U.S. Highway 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).

As he attempted a third route to work, he spotted a Sumter EMC technician and asked his advice on getting to the station. “It won’t do you any bit of good,” was the reply. “The station’s underwater.”

In just one short day, Americus, known as the “Shining City on a Hill,” was surrounded by a 500year flood. “We were an island all by ourselves,” recalls Moreno.

Two decades later, he remembers nearly every minute detail of the week Tropical Storm Alberto drenched much of south and middle Georgia. The night of July 5, “I was just about to go to sleep. We were watching the news, and saw that a state of emergency had just been declared in Macon. My wife said to me, ‘If Macon is in trouble, why aren’t we?’”

Moreno knew then that it was time to prepare for the worst. “I got on the phone and called all the guys in,” he says with a laugh. “They thought I was crazy. Then at a quarter

the waters, or their lack of equipment, as no one could get into the county to deliver emergency equipment, and officials requisitioned any relevant equipment from local sporting goods stores. “We did steal a few things,” Moreno quipped. The two men, along with a few citizens out to help, used what rope and resources they had and made the dangerous rescue. “They got a lot of rope training that night,” he said with a laugh.

It would be five days before things began to somewhat settle, but much longer before Americus and Sumter County could return to a sense of normalcy. Fifteen people lost their lives. Moreno can remember the circumstance of each death, as do many This plaque at the Americus Fire and Emergency Services building includes the names of the Sumter County vic- other Sumter County citizens. Two people perished tims who were killed in the Flood of 1994. (Staff Photo: Kim Purrier) when they were washed his crew went to work. In out of their mobile homes. all, they performed over The others died when their 43 successful fast-water vehicles were washed rescues, though none of away. One victim, only them had any extensive 16 years old, lost his life rope training. “These guys, when he was attempting to they had regular ropes and string telephone lines and knots. Not the things they fell out of his boat. have now. And they got it Over 57 homes were done.” destroyed, and hundreds Of course, they could more damaged. Only four not save every person from homes in the county had the unpredictable flash flood insurance. floods that would occur While the damage was throughout the night and severe and death toll was next day. This was one high, Moreno and other of the hardest things for rescuers know that it could Moreno and his staff to have been substantially deal with. worse. “I truly cannot One memory that still think of a single death that sticks in Moreno’s mind we could have prevented.” is what was most likely After that week, Moreno the first of 15 deaths in also knew what kind of team Sumter County. “There he had in the Americus Fire was a young lady. She was Department. “Our guys driving around the Sunset did a phenomenal job,” the and Frieda Lane area. We pride is obvious in his voice. got the call, we went,” “After that first night, and Moreno said, pausing for all of their efforts, at that composure as he remempoint I realized that the sky bered. “That was the was the limit for us. I was worst part. The car was so proud of them the whole there. We saw it. But at time. In that five-day period, that point, the water was I realized what an extraorswirling faster and faster. dinary group of people that At that point, I knew there I had, that the community was absolutely nothing had. I will always be proud we could do. And that was of what we all accomplished hard.” as a team.”

After that, the team did He was also touched by the only thing it could the way citizens reacted in do — soldier on to save the aftermath. “Neighbors as many lives as possible. were helping neighbors.

The rescues were bold, Strangers became friends; and the team acted on people from both sides of adrenaline and instincts. the tracks were helping “Everything these guys each other, checking on did, they did out of pure each other. Everyone was guts and determination. caring for each other.”

They knew that they were Of course, in most small needed, and they went to towns, helping others in work. To this day, I am times of need is simply so proud of my team and the norm. As Rob Brown, what they accomplished.” owner of Forsyth Bar and Two firefighters were Grill, sums it up with a This photo, showing damage to a roadway, was taken on Georgia Highway 49, about 10 on Lee Street Road, shrug, “Well, what else are miles from Americus during the Flood of 1994. (Albany Herald file photo) around Magnolia Manor you going to do? You have Retirement Center, when to do something.” to one in the morning, all cus fire chief — and asnow they would all be, as they were faced with That attitude, along with hell broke loose. And we sistant to the director of the Moreno put it, “baptized a daunting task. There the efforts of all rescue were ready. The guys were Sumter County Emergency by fire through water.” were people hanging onto agencies involved, are the ready.”

Management Agency, thenWhile power and phone the trees, 250 feet off reason that no disaster can Ready they were, as Sheriff Randy Howard — lines were down all over the road, surrounded by ever permanently tarnish much as they could be con- for just 10 months. That the county, generators tumultuous flood waters.

Sumter County and its sidering the circumstances. year alone, they had hired for the main radios were The firefighters did not seat, that “Shining City on Moreno had been Ameri10 new firefighters. And working fine. Moreno and hesitate at the distance, a Hill.”

In Sumter, good Samaritans come to the rescue

By Kim Purrier

ed with water,” recalls George Torbert, Dan’s son, who was 18 at the AMERICUS — In the time. “Those girls, they late night hours of July 5, were scared. They had all 1994, on Lee Street and huddled in one room of Lee Street Road, most the house, and the water people stayed in their was chest high. He carried homes, listening to the rain each of them out, one by or listening to cars hitting one, through all that water. what were quickly becom- There were a couple times ing deep flood waters, a he slipped, but he got all sound former Lee Street of those girls out and to resident Donnie McCrary safety. After he carried likened to the sound of out the last girl, the waters something heavy hitting a broke the door on the brick wall. house.”

Such is the power of Had Dan Torbert not water. acted as quickly as he had, But when Dan Torbert the fatality rate could have received a panicked phone easily jumped from 15 to call from Judy Tott, direc- 24. tor at the time of the MethGeorge Torbert joined odist Youth Home housing his father on Lee Street nine young girls, he did not Road shortly after to assist think twice about what he his father and rescue crews had to do. where he could. When “Judy called my dad. asked what made him He went up there, parked venture out into such danhis truck up on the road, gerous circumstances, he and saw that the house replied quickly and simply, was completely surround- “I’m always going to do

kim.purrier@albanyherald.com

what I can to help my dad.”

Their next rescue was a daring and delicate one.

A young couple and their baby were trapped, well off the road, amongst trees.

Dan, George and rescuers formed a human chain to successfully rescue the family.

“After we got the family out of the tree, I was going to head back home to try and rest,” said George Torbert, who remembered every vivid detail of that night, as many do. “I remember thinking that I heard someone holler. I stopped my truck. Then I heard it again. At this point, there was one fire truck left, and they were leaving.”

George stopped the truck and alerted them to the cries for help. Firefighters shined their lights into the trees and saw a man standing precariously on the top of his truck, as flood waters continued to surge,

increasing intensity as the seconds ticked by. “DNR had showed up, and they had a boat. Right when they came, the man’s truck began to roll. He jumped; it was his last chance. He managed to grab the side of the boat and rescuers were able to pull him in.”

It is safe to say that George Torbert inherited his instinct to help from his father, an electrician by trade. Speaking of the Youth Home rescue and his involvement in the sheriff’s department’s youth programs, George says of his father, “He’ll do anything he can to help children in any way. He has a special spot in his heart for them.”

While Dan will risk his life to save another, he does not care to be touted as a hero. “He never does anything for recognition,” his son says with a smile in his voice.

But others obviously felt Dan Torbert deserved

special recognition for his efforts that night, specifically the Youth Home rescue. In 1996, Dan was presented The Wireless Foundation’s VITA Award for his rescue of the nine girls. VITA, which is “life” in Latin, is an award presented to people who use wireless communications to save lives, help in emergencies and stop crime. He was presented the award in Washington, D.C., by actor William Shatner.

And the humble hero likely wanted little to do

with all the attention he received that night and in the aftermath of the 1994 flood.

When asked what makes his father so special and what values his father instilled in him, George Torbert did not hesitate in his answer: “He taught me that you do what you can to help, whenever you can.”

These simple words could be the Torbert family’s credo, spoken and lived by a modest man with a heroic heart.

Ponder Enterprises Inc.

22 AA • Saturday, June 28, 2014

albanyherald.com

The Flood of 1994 … a day-by-day account

By Mary Braswell mary.braswell @albanyherald.com

revised to 37 feet. The Flint’s flood stage in Albany is 20 feet.

July 6 — Alberto stalls over Georgia. Seventeen people die in one day of flooding, 15 of them in or near Americus.

More than 21 inches of rain fall over Americus within the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m.

— In Macon, 150,000 homes are without drinking water. Most of the homes June 30 were still without water two — The first tropical storm warning is issued for parts of weeks later. An additional Mexico along the Gulf Coast. 9.73 inches of rain falls on the city.

— In Plains, 12.69 inches of July 1 — The storm system reach- rain add to the already flooded Kinchafoonee Creek. es tropical storm strength — Roads close all over with sustained winds of 39 Southwest Georgia, causing mph and is named Alberto. entire communities to be isolated.

July 2 — Gulf Coast residents and — More than 14,000 Albany tourists are warned to brace residents are advised to evacuate their homes by 6 for the possibility of a hurricane. Approximately 10,000 p.m. on July 7. people check out early July 7 from hotels in the Florida — Police order 14,000 Panhandle. Residents in Dougherty County residents low-lying areas are evacuated. Landfall is projected to to evacuate. The Flint rises faster than expected as be between Pensacola and all 14 floodgates at Lake Panama City.

Blackshear are opened.

The river reaches 40 feet in July 3 Albany, breaking a 69-year— With 66 mph winds, old record of 37.8 feet.

Alberto comes ashore at — The first shelters open Destin. Forecasters predict in Albany at Dougherty and heavy rains for northern Albany high schools.

Florida, eastern Alabama — The National Guard arand southern Georgia. rives and troops at Marine Late in the day, Alberto is Corps Logistics Base-Albany downgraded to a tropical begin bagging sand. depression.

— Sandbagging saves Palmyra Medical Centers from July 4 losing electricity, allowing — Independence Day the 191 patients, includfireworks are rained out in Albany, as well as most loca- ing evacuees from a local nursing home, to stay in the tions in Southwest Georgia.

Cuthbert receives 8.5 inches facility. Thirteen critical care patients are relocated via of rain. A Worth County helicopter. tornado causes $5,000 in damages to a mobile home. — All roads in south Lee County are closed.

— A dusk-to-dawn curfew is July 5 — Eight people die in flood- in place for Albany. related accidents in Georgia. — Downstream, Newton is evacuated.

Plains gets 7.19 inches of rain. An early prediction July 8 from the National Weather — The Flint River reaches Service that there would be the 500-year flood stage in 30 feet of water in the Flint Albany.

River by July 11 is quickly June 29 — What would become Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 1994 hurricane season that started June 1, develops west of Cuba and began moving north through the Gulf of Mexico at 14 mph.

— All buildings at Albany State College are flooded, except for the library.

— City sewage pours directly into the river.

— President Bill Clinton declares Dougherty County and surrounding areas a disaster area. Gov. Zell Miller has already declared a state of emergency in 43 counties.

July 9 — The Flint River continues to rise. In its wake, hundreds of coffins are unearthed from Riverside and Oakview cemeteries.

— The American Red Cross and others, primarily churches, have at least 60 shelters open for Dougherty and Lee County flood evacuees.

— Baker County’s historic courthouse is flooded.

— About one in every four Dougherty County residents — an estimated 24,200 people — is evacuated.

— All bridges connecting east and west Albany are shut down. A 100-mile route touching five counties is available, but many are unaware of it until July 11.

July 10 — The flooding worsens downstream and all of downtown Newton is under 10 feet of water. Baconton is surrounded by water, but it escapes serious flooding.

The town, however, has no drinking water.

— Lee County residents begin returning to their residences to inspect the destruction left by the flood.

— The first disaster assistance center operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prepares to open.

July 11 — The Flint River crests at 43 feet in downtown Albany at 7:15 a.m.

— An estimated 1,000 people flow through FEMA’s assistance center in Albany.

Centers also open in Americus, Jonesboro and Macon.

— Many become aware that East Albany residents can reach West Albany, and vice versa, by taking a 100-mile

July 15 — Albany is again one city as the Liberty Bypass reopens. Oglethorpe Avenue and Broad Avenue bridges are both open to pedestrians, though there are plans to reclose the Broad bridge as debris attaches to it.

— Dougherty County resiJuly 12 dents file more than 5,000 — Mail service resumes in applications for assistance.

East Albany for the first time More than $1.9 million in since July 7. emergency food stamps — FEMA opens a disaster as- have been issued in Doughsistance center in East Albany. erty County alone.

— With 14 polling places — Flood shelters, 34 in Aleither under water or serving bany, begin to consolidate. as emergency shelters, state — State officials announce officials discuss delaying the that the July 19 primaries will July 19 primary elections. be held as planned.

— The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates crop July 16 damage from flooding will be — An estimated 9,200 at least $25 million. homes have water damage in Dougherty County. Many July 13 still have standing water — President Clinton visits inside. About 2,000 remain in Albany and promises $65.5 shelters. million in federal aid to offset flood damage in Georgia, July 17 Florida and Alabama.

— About 7,000 residents, — As the Flint begins to roughly 9 percent of the recede, hundreds of sinkpopulation, in Albany are still holes begin to open, many homeless. Another 12,000 on roads and others under need repairs to their homes Albany homes. before they can return.

— In total, an estimated 50,000 Georgians were July 19 evacuated during the flood — Election turnout exceeds with, again estimated, only predictions.

10 percent having flood — Estimated damage to insurance.

Albany and Dougherty County roads, bridges and July 14 other public facilities is $500 — In Lee County, cranes be- million. gin picking up debris piled in yards by returning residents. July 20 — The front lawn of Baker — The first FEMA trailers arCounty Bank becomes rive for temporary housing. a tent city to replace the — Free pick up of floodflooded downtown governrelated waste and debris is ment offices. available throughout the city — The Broad Avenue bridge and county. opens for foot traffic.

— The state Department And on it goes … of Labor announces that — Thousands of volunteers $4 million of a $12 million from all across the country grant has been approved to assist with the clean up hire people unemployed by and restoration. The largest the flood and /or long-term group is from the Mormon unemployed to help clean up Church, at 5,000 strong.

Alberto’s mess.

Bringing their own tents and — FEMA opens a third supplies as well as mops, disaster assistance center disinfectants and pressurewhere lines remained long. washing equipment, they — Most of south Albany go house-to-house helping remains under water. anyone who asks. roundabout route. The trip, depending upon traffic, takes about two hours each way.

— Albany and Dougherty County officials begin preparing for people to return to what is left of their homes.

Amazingly, many never lost power.

— Schools double up and classrooms are overcrowded. Few complain.

— An estimated 40,000 tons of debris is removed.

— Churches share facilities for services.

— As caskets and remains are recovered from the flooded cemeteries and beyond, they are carried by military transport to refrigerated trucks at the Exchange Club Fairgrounds to await identification by the GBI. The tasks take several months.

— Albany officials remind drivers to not bypass barricades just because the water has receded. At least 156 sinkholes are identified three weeks after the flood, but more are expected to develop as the land continues to dry.

— Free child care is available at the Albany YMCA for families affected by the flood and for volunteers working in shelters. Much needed supplies are shipped from YMCAs all across the country.

— Bruno’s Food and Pharmacy offers free bleach, Pine Sol, Clorox Cleanup, Tilex and vinegar to flood victims as long as the supplies last.

Several trailers are loaded for distribution at the store’s Meredyth Drive parking lot.

— Officials in flood-ravaged towns along the Flint River agree to participate in the FEMA buyout program.

Albany is left to decide what to do about 8,363 homes that were flooded. Some are rebuilt and/or elevated for safety. Others, including 140 units of the Washington Homes public housing facility behind the Civic Center, are razed.

There is no end to an event such as the Flood of 1994, even 20 years later many remember those sweltering days of July as though it was yesterday. The lives of so many were changed, for the worse and the better. The destruction, the restoration, the lives lost and those restored will forever remain a large part of Albany’s history.

albanyherald.com

Saturday, June 28, 2014 • 23 AA

Flint River still centerpiece of downtown development

By Carlton Fletcher

After the floods of 1994 and 1998, the historic Bridge House in downtown Albany was renovated for the Albany Convention and Visitors Center.

At right, the Hilton Garden Inn on Front Street was built following the floods.

(Staff Photos: Jim Hendricks)

carlton.fletcher @albanyherald.com

ALBANY — As Shandon Development Properties principle Patrick Plettner announced an aggressive redevelopment master plan that would potentially change the face of downtown Albany, one element emerged as crucial to the $49 million plan.

The Flint River.

Since 1994, Albany’s downtown streetscape has changed significantly, primarily under projects through the now-defunct Albany Tomorrow group, which formed in 1995. Millions of dollars have been spent over the years, resulting primarily in government and lifestyle developments.

Government facilities that were constructed include the federal courthouse at Broad Avenue and Washington Street, the Georgia Department of Human Resources building on West Oglethorpe Boulevard across from the Civic Center, the Central Square government annex building on Pine Avenue west of the Government Center, and the Albany Police Department Law Enforcement Center on Washington Street at Oglethorpe. The former site of Bobs Candies at 125 Pine Ave. has been renovated for office space and is now home to the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and programs with Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.

The Flint RiverQuarium and its Imagine Theatre are at the end of Pine Avenue where it turns south into Front Street, where Turtle Park, the Riverwalk trail, Ray Charles Plaza and Hilton Garden Inn have all been constructed since the Flood of 1994. The historic Bridge House on Front Street has been renovated to house the Albany Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The designs of the riverside attractions took into account the possibility of high water, such as what Albany experienced in the Flood of ’94. Parts of the Riverwalk, for instance, have been submerged during minor flooding, and it has not affected its use once the waters recede.

Two downtown museums have seen some extensive renovations. The Albany Civil Rights Institute at 326 Whitney Ave. has been renovated and expanded, while the Wetherbee Planetarium

at the Thronateeska Heritage Center at 100 Roosevelt Ave. has been upgraded to a state-of-the-art facility.

Thronateeska also recently opened its climate-controlled archive center.

Part of Albany Tomorrow’s master plan for the downtown area included an entertainment district. While some restaurants have been mainstays in the area — the Cookie Shoppe since long before the flood and, more recently, a Subway and Our Daily Bread — other restaurants have opened to various degrees of success before closing — Cafe 230, the Pizza Shop, Hubbles, Georgia Fries — or moving — Harvest Moon, Riverfront BBQ, Bagel Break, San Joe’s. Chills, a nightclub, has been operating on Broad Avenue at Jackson Street for several years and Icons has been a new addition on Washington Street near Broad. Demetrius Love announced plans to open another restaurant soon in the Riverfront BBQ site.

Albany Tomorrow’s plan was for public money to partner with private investment in boosting downtown, but with a few exceptions like the Hilton Garden Inn, the private money didn’t follow before the organization went into hibernation in January 2009. The retail strip center on the 100 block of North Jackson where Subway is located ran into some problems when the anchor tenant, a dollar store, folded after its lease contract was caught up in a wider scandal involving thendowntown manager, Don Buie, who ended up serving time in jail. The site of the former retail store now houses the Central Library while its building across the street is renovated.

But there has been some movement of late. Downtown officials have attempted to make the area more attractive to younger residents. The Art Park at Pine has been an added attraction for creative folks, and the Levee, a music studio,

located on the 100 block of Pine has been added as well.

Albany businessman Bob Brooks renovated the Nelson Tift Building on the 200 block of Broad Avenue into a convention center that has hosted a number of events.

Just this month, a new phase of development by Shandon was announced.

Of the eight components that make up two project development areas listed by Plettner in an April proposal to the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority, five target areas — a sports complex on city-owned land behind the Albany Civic Center, the Civic Center itself and its adjacent parking pads, “riverfront retail” along Front Street, and an entertainment venue on land between Riverfront and Veterans parks — run parallel to the Flint and lay within a matter of yards from its western banks.

Three other areas — 100 blocks north and south (of Broad and Pine avenues) and a proposed hotel/ convention center on West Broad Avenue — are on streets that run perpendicular to the river and intersect with Front Street.

“This community has an underutilized asset that makes it attractive to developers,” Plettner told the ADICA board. “You have a downtown area that is bisected by that beautiful river, a claim that very few cities can make.

It gives you unique development opportunities.”

City officials are cautiously optimistic about the momentum Shandon’s involvement has created downtown, lauding the group’s recent announcement that eight separate businesses have signed letters-of-interest in leasing storefronts along Front and Pine. But nagging at the edges of leaders’ consciousness as they discuss the development is the Flood of ’94. Many were there as the Flint left its banks and inundated much of the area being promoted by Plettner as vital to downtown development.

And they won’t discuss such development without

Albany’s Mount Zion Church grew from trying time in July

By Laura Williams

Palnick offered the synagogue to Mount Zion as a gathering place for Sunday services. On July 17, the ALBANY — It was with Mount Zion congregation heavy hearts that members met at the synagogue, enterof Mount Zion Baptist ing under emblazoned words Church in Albany watched above the door: “My house as flood waters continued to shall be called a house of rise around their building in prayer for all peoples.”

July 1994.

As Simmons took his “When we heard that the place at the podium, in front area around Albany State of tablets inscribed with the University was beginning Ten Commandments and to get flooded, that’s when with images of the Torah we started to really worry,” and Star of David lining the said Sheila Jones Eaddy, room on stained glass winexecutive assistant to Mount dows, he reminded church Zion pastor the Rev. Daniel members of the Exodus in Simmons. which God liberated Israel The congregation’s worst from Egypt. fears were realized when the “We definitely felt a church building, then located little bit like the Israelites,” at 1905 Martin Luther King Eaddy recalled. “God led Drive, sustained heavy our church through a time of damage that would require wilderness before reachseveral months of renovation ing something better in the before it could be used again. Promised Land. It was a bit “It was a hard thing to like leaving home for a while wrap your mind around,” on a trip you never planned said Eaddy. “When you can to take in the first place.” float a boat in the sanctuary After flood waters recedand you see pews bobbing ed, renovations to the church up to the surface, it’s pretty began, and the building horrific.” was eventually ready to use But as many who experiagain, resulting in a celebraenced the Flood of ’94 can tion as Mount Zion church testify, out of tragic circummembers returned home. stances, the good will and sup“It was a grand day when port of others is often revealed. we were able to march back Rabbi Elijah Palnick, into our sanctuary,” Eaddy then-rabbi of Albany’s said.

Temple B’nai Israel, and Eaddy noted that though Simmons were friends, and it was a difficult time, the the two worked together to church persevered and, find a solution. ultimately, grew stronger

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than before.

“The whole experience really enhanced our vision to be shepherds for the community and become even more involved in community outreach and helping others,” Eaddy said.

Like the Israelites, Mount Zion had to travel through the wilderness, but has emerged on the other side better than ever.

“After returning back to our building, we began to see an influx of growth that has never stopped,” Eaddy said. “It got to the point where we held two services each Sunday and still had to put chairs in the aisle.”

Twenty years later, the Mount Zion Baptist Church congregation no longer meets in that building on Martin Luther King Drive, having relocated in 2010 to its newer, bigger home at 901 S. Westover Blvd.

“Through it all, we’ve grown by adapting and adjusting to things that happen, while still holding to the key things,” Eaddy noted.

“We always remember our mission to be a vibrant church that reaches our world through evangelism, discipleship, fellowship and missions.

“Now when we face stumbling blocks, we remember what we’ve already faced and overcome, and that gives us the strength to keep forging ahead.”

bringing it up.

“The flood is always part of the downtown redevelopment conversation,” said Downtown Manager Aaron Blair, who announced June 19 that he would leave his position in Albany after 3 1/2 years to take a similar position in Fresno, Calif.

“You have to talk about how high water would impact any construction along the river, how the space around the river can be used. That especially comes into play when you talk about the Civic Center and that area around it.

“It’s been 20 years, but the people here will not forget the flood. They can’t.

This community was too dramatically impacted.”

Of the redevelopment plans being discussed

by Plettner and his local Shandon Marketplace Development team, the one that is most iffy — and probably would have the most significant impact downtown — is development of a sports complex on land that formerly was used as the First Tee golf facility.

The 116 acres of land are sufficient to house baseball, softball and soccer fields, as well as a tennis complex that would be funded by Dougherty County special-purpose local-option sales tax funds.

But the property also is most susceptible to rising flood waters.

City Manager James Taylor, however, said the city would not be taking a tremendous risk by devel-

oping a sports complex alongside the river.

“Athletic fields could recover from flooding much more easily,” Taylor said.

“What we’d have to consider is any permanent structure. If we built any kind of restrooms, concessions stands or storage structures, we’d have to take consideration for their location into our plans.

“That’s not to say you can’t build along a river.

I visited Greenville, S.C., and they have apartments, condos and retail outlets all along the (Reedy) river.

What they’ve done, though, is build everything so that ground-level is used only for parking. And it’s all concrete. That’s good planning.”

Blair said he’s seen an initial draft of a sports complex plan alongside the Flint, and the flooding factor figures into that plan. “(Planners) took into account the flow of the river and how any overflow would affect the facilities,” he said.

“It impacts the design of the park, but not so much that the changes would make (locating the sports complex there) a risk. I think the general idea is that, with careful planning, this could be a key element of any downtown development.”

The Kattalistt Creative Group, a collective of mostly young, mostly involved area citizens, is one of the group of eight that signed the letters-of-interest to locate downtown. The Kattalistts want to lease the

11,176-square-foot former IRS building at 110-112 Pine Ave. and turn it into a gathering place for artists and other creative groups.

Organization President James Malphrus said the Kattalistt Group would manage a consignment/retail area in the massive building and sub-lease the other 42 rooms, which range in size from 42 to 650 square feet.

Kattalistt Treasurer Megan Barr said the group is not concerned about possible flooding of the nearby Flint.

“I think the Flood of ’94 was partially responsible for our downtown area becoming pretty much a ghost town,” Barr said. “Just like a lot of people left Albany and Dougherty County for good, a lot of businesses left the downtown area and moved to the west side of town or into Lee County.

“Our group is interested in revitalizing downtown.

We think the plan that’s being put in place is a good place to start. We think we can be a part of that by opening up possibilities with (the former IRS building).

We’re excited about the opportunity.”

City of Albany Public Works Director Phil Roberson said improvements made by the city based on knowledge obtained through experiencing the Flood of ’94 have helped make redevelopment of a downtown that was directly impacted by the flood waters much more plausible.

“We’ve had a decade or so to use what we learned from the flood to make infrastructure improvements that will help us better handle any similar event,” Roberson said.

“I’m proud to see the city moving forward with plans.

“You can’t operate worried about what might happen. You make decisions based on what’s best for the community but with a calculated eye toward contingencies for what could happen.”

24AA• Saturday, June 28, 2014

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