SMYRNA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The American Red Cross is assisting five families affected by Tuesday’s flash flooding in Smyrna. In total, 19 people were displaced.
According to Cobb County’s Emergency Management Office, 13 buildings were impacted by the flooding. Five of them have major damage.
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Peter Johnson, one of the victims, said he had at least four feet of water inside his house.
“When it happened, it just filled up like a bowl. It just filled up, and the next thing I know, everything in my house is turned over. I’m walking through water,” he said. “My grandbaby is scared, my wife is scared. I’m trying to keep them under control, but I mean, we managed to get out.”
Johnson moved from New Orleans years ago after experiencing Hurricane Katrina.
“Never thought I would go through this,” Johnson said.
The man was very emotional as he described losing nearly everything again.
“Me and my family, we’re just getting started, you know. Just brought a new freezer for the house,” Johnson said. “All of that is messed up now. We just got to figure out how we’re going to start over.”
Lorree Robinson lives up the street, but she said she lived in the area that flooded for 13 years. Robinson took in some of the victims impacted by the flooding.
“It has gotten a little crazy, but not to the point where this entire thing is like a lake, and it’s just so unfortunate,” she said. “It happened so quick.”
Robinson said this is not the first time her neighborhood has seen flooding. She used to frequently see standing water in the grass. Some residents said they’ve reached out to the county multiple times in the past, to no avail.
“I’m hoping that this will be a thing where someone will step up and help, because it’s never gotten to this level,” Robinson said. “I just think that this has been an ongoing issue. Maybe the drains need to be flushed out or cleared out.”
Cobb County Communications Director Ross Cavitt said the storm water pipes in the neighborhood were checked recently and deemed to be in “good shape.” He says Tuesday’s heavy rain is to blame for the chaos.
“With such a heavy amount of rain in a short amount of time, it shot that debris into those pipes, causing them to collapse, and that’s what really caused the flooding in the area,” Cavitt said. “But storm water is a problem everywhere. It’s a problem in Cobb County. We are overwhelmed by the recent events similar to this and have a backlog of cases.
Cavitt says the county is responsible for making sure the drainage system works properly. As they clean up and rebuild the infrastructure around Coopers Creek Circle, they’ll investigate if anything can be done differently.
The people who live in the community hope this does not happen again.
“They need to do something. I mean, come on,” Johnson said. “If it’s going to do this every time we have a hard rain, and we live in an area where it’s hilly, I would think they would have a plan.”
Cobb County officials say it could take until Friday to get the clogged culvert cleaned out and the drainage pipes repaired. They warned several residents in the Coopers Creek area that they may want to evacuate their homes out of an abundance of caution prior to Wednesday’s forecast rainfall.
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This story has been updated.
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