A flood of memories: a photographic chronicle of the great flood of 1994 from the staff of the Albany Herald

LEE COUNTY LIBRARY
3 1032 005844903
A rood of Memories
A Photographic Chronicle of The Great Flood of 1994 from the Staff of The Albany Herald
Leesburg,GA
Credits
THE ALBANY HERALD
PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
126 North Washington Street
P.O. Box 48
Albany, Georgia 31702-0048
912-888-9300
HERALD STAFF
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
Robin Christman
Lee Flanigan
Steve Shelton
Don Stalvey
COVER PHOTO,
SPECIAL PHOTOS:
Herb Pilcher
Free-lance photojoumalist
PUBLISHER:
Christian R. Schilt
EDITOR:
Kay Read
HERALD STAFF REPORTERS:
Mark Bondurant
Rich Carter
John Cheves
Genia Collins
Todd Douglas
Kimberly Gaiters-Fields
Coretta Gooden
Jim Hendricks
Lark Ledbetter
David Milliner
Mickey Mills
Wayne Partridge
Marvin Robertson
Lucille Russell
AnaDarcia Sirianni
Heather Sumner
Allan Taylor
Judith Thompson
Jenel Williams
John Zenor
HERALD STAFF EDITORS:
Earl Braswell
Danny Carter
Mark Lastinger
Tim Leifeste
Phillip Lucas
David Pierce
HERALD STAFF COPY EDITORS:
James Kelleher
Barry Levine
Stephen Masters
John Richards
Georganne Smith
HERALD STAFF SUPPORT:
Vicki Harris
Milton Robinson
A Flood of Memories Was Written,
Designed and Produced by
Broad Street Productions
Albany, Georgia
Right: Three young
volunteers walked
away from latrines
at a tent city set up
at the YMCA Sports
Park in Albany.
Next page, top: At
11 a.m. on July 6,
flood waters had
swallowed Highway
19 north of
Smithville. Flash
floods killed 15 in
Americus and sev-
ered roads leading
into the community.
Next page, bottom:
Tent cities sprouted
in Albany as thou-
sands of volunteers,
like these Mormons,
traveled from across
the country to help.
A Community Forever Changed
4
CONTENTS
PART I
Rain of Terror............................. 6
PART II
Trial by Water.............................14
Faiths Bridge the Flood....................42
Farmers Hopes Sank Under the Flood........44
A Flood of Determination...................46
PART III
Mud, Sweat and Tears.......................50
In Memoriam................................76
PART IV
The Aftermath: Waves of Support............78
Rising Waters Raise the Dead...............90
Page One Headlines.........................94
Divided by Water, United by Crisis ........96
H
Above: For children, The Flood
of 1994 was a time of upheaval,
confusion and anxiety.
Left: The 500-year flood sub-
merged entire neighborhoods in
both East and West Albany.
A COMMUNITY
FOREVER CHANGED
A portion of the Editorial printed in The Albany Herald, July 12, 1994
Right: Municipal workers and
volunteers, ignoring aching
backs and blisters, labored to
fill thousands of sandbags at
the Albany Civic Center.
Far right: President Bill
Clinton, with Congressman
Sanford Bishop at his side,
visited flood victims at the
Highland Middle School
FEMA Disaster Assistance
Center.

In churches Sunday, there were neither blacks
nor whites, rich nor poor. They all were sur-
vivors. Weve seen the barrier of race crum-
bleif only temporarily. The Flood of 94 has
been a powerful equalizer.
The force of the Flint River has done what no
politician, no committee, no seminar could do. It has
pulled people together to help each other, to under-
stand each other.
Race is forgotten as we look into the faces of
hurting people. Some looking into these faces also
suffered losses. Others looking into them wonder
why they themselves were not among the victims.
Those faces look back into the eyes of the
helpers and also see no color. They see fellow
Albanians reaching out to lift them up. Many, who
had so little a week ago and now are left with noth-
ing, say when they are back on their feet they want
4
to repay those groups who have taken them in.
Their attitudes reflect the attitudes of those giving of
themselves. Attitudes are contagious.
This community has never faced anything
like what were going through. Black leaders who for
years promoted the belief that prejudice exists among
all whites will have difficulty convincing those who
are seeing firsthand people who are concerned about
their every need, 24 hours a day. Theyre hearing,
God loves you, but let me show you that I do, too.
There are no dividing lines. Persons housed in the
shelters are insisting they also be among the volun-
teer workers. Leaders are surfacing among the dis-
placed in the shelters.
Its people working together for a common
endto be victorious. The Flood of 94 will not pre-
vail. Gods love seen through mankind is dominat-
ing.
Far Right: Torrential rains,
the remnants of tropical
storm Alberto, soaked
South Georgia. Although
the runoff drained without
incident from Oglethorpe
Boulevard in Albany, pic-
tured here, the downpour
resulted in deadly flash
flooding in communities
north of Albany.
Rain Of Terror
Despite heavy rains July 4,
Albany residents celebrated
the holiday.
Ablowhard named Alberto blustered
through the Florida panhandle on Sunday,
July 3, 1994, dashing cold water over tourists
L and their plans for the long holiday week-
end. The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurri-
cane season, Alberto couldnt accumulate enough
power to be classified a full-fledged hurricane; with
sustained winds of 60 mph, the storms mischief
seemed limited to capsizing a half dozen sailboats and
pushing over a few trees and streetlights. Still,
Alberto continued to lumber inland. Forecasters pre-
dicted heavy rains for eastern Alabama and southern
Georgia. Sure enough, between midnight and 8 a.m.
Monday, Alberto sprayed Cuthbert in Georgia with
eight inches of rainflooding streets and build-
ingsbefore slogging north toward Macon.
In Albany, Steve Coleman, city fireworks
director, kept a watchful eye on Alberto. The storm
had dragged a bellyful of water into South Georgia.
Although an early morning downpour subsided,
Mondays skies remained gray and threatening. Work
crews at the Albany Civic Center and Hugh Mills
6
Stadium awaited Colemans go-ahead. Instead, they
got a thumbs-down. Ideally, we need it to be clear
all morning and most of the afternoon, Coleman
explained. We can handle typical showers, but the
rain this morning got into our set-up time. Wet fire-
works dont work. Coleman knew forecasters were
predicting even more rain. For the first time in 30
years, Albanys annual Fourth of July fireworks show
had fizzled.
Alberto dampened other Independence Day
festivities in Albany as well. At Chehaw Park, a free
admission sign sat in the ticket window of an empty
entrance booth. We canceled everything, said Jeff
Aldrich, Chehaws manager of visitor services. We
had activities planned for the whole day and unfortu-
nately the weather washed us out.
Many Albany residents, watching rainwater
pooling on their charcoal briquettes, put away grills
and picnic hampers and opted to eat their traditional
July 4 fare inside. A line of customers waiting for
CONTINUED
RAIN OF TERROR CONTINUED
Above: Some Albany resi-
dents, like 50-year-old Gradis
Lewis, retrieved a few belong-
ings before fast-rising flood
waters swallowed their homes.
Right: More than 14,000
Albany residents were warned
to evacuate as Albertos
runoff surged south.
Far right: On July 7, the last
two residents of Sky water
Personal Care Home on
Radium Springs Road waited
for emergency management
personnel to evacuate them.
tables formed outside Sonnys Real Pit Bar-B-Q on
North Slappey Boulevard. This is one of the busiest
days of the year and I think the weather has helped
us, said Eric Wagner, one of the restaurants owners.
At the time, Alberto seemed nothing more
than a wet blanket that doused Independence Day
observances. By Tuesday, July 5, however, Alberto
had become more than a nuisance. The storm had
dumped at least 15 inches of rain on 14 counties
north of Albany, and the torrential onslaught con-
tinued. Rivers and creeks swelled over their banks;
water washed over dams in Middle Georgia, bursting
some; homes flooded and people drowned. Albertos
legacy rushed downrivertoward Albany.
On Wednesday, July 6, The Albany Herald
alerted its readers: Southwest Georgia braces for
floods. By Thursday, more than 14,000 Albany resi-
dents had been warned to evacuate. Americus had
been hit hard. Nine people were known to have
drowned and five others were missing. Ive never
seen that many dead bodies in one day, Sumter
County Coroner Lynwood McClung said grimly.
President Bill Clinton declared Sumter, Bibb,
Clayton and Dougherty counties national disaster
areas.
In Lee County, Albertos runoff engorged the
Muckalee and Kinchafoonee creeks so swiftly that
rescue boats brought in to pluck residents from
rooftops couldnt fight the current. The trailer was
shaking, and they was trying to find a boat to get us
out, but they couldnt find a boat, recalled
Geraldine Johnson, who lived in a trailer near the
Muckalee. I said, Lord Jesus, let us out of
there alive.
The water gathered even more volume and
speed as it thundered into the Flint River, heaving
the waterway well past past flood stage. By Friday,
the Flint was spewing over the grounds of the Albany
Civic Center, where Steve Coleman had prepared to
launch fireworks only four nights earlier. Chehaw
Park was reeling from a wall of water that had
demolished walkways and exhibits and swept away
CONTINUED
9
RAIN OF TERROR CONTINUED
Left: Kenny Ingram, a
member of a sandbagging
crew, cautiously approached
a manhole spewing back-
wash from the flood on July
10, in Albany.
Right: Family and friends
helped Charles Duckworth
(second from right) canoe to
his home on hard-hit
Harding Street to salvage
what he could. Many resi-
dents could not return home
for days because of lingering
flood waters.
Right: Doug Judy helped fellow
residents of Raintree
Condominiums evacuate as
flood waters rolled over the Lee
County complex. Although
Judys upstairs apartment
escaped massive damage, first
floor dwellings were
total losses.
Below right: On July 4,
customers were waiting in line
outside popular Sonnys
Bar-B-Q on North Slappey
Drive in Albany. Four days
later, the eatery mas awash
with brown flood water, and
Slappey Drive was impassable.
animals. An opaque brown swamp halted traffic on
North Slappey Boulevard, and tables and chairs were
afloat in Sonnys Real Pit Bar-B-Q Restaurant.
At first, people called it The Flood of the
Century. That turned out to be an understatement.
All bridges linking Albany east to west were closed.
Submerged roads made travel outside the city nearly
impossible. Waves lapped the rooftops of entire
neighborhoods. The muscular current expelled scores
of caskets from graves and sent them bobbing down-
river. Foot-long carp swam through classrooms at his-
toric Albany State College.
Officials watched helplessly as the burgeoning
river broke the citys previous flood record set on Jan.
25, 1921. Veteran City Engineer John Sperry, who
had retired days before the deluge, came out of retire-
ment to help with crisis planning. Im flabbergast-
ed, he declared. Weve had the drawings, but its
hard to think that weve hit that point.
On Saturday, July 9, 1994, the newspaper
proclaimed: 500-year-flood washes over Albany.
Assistant City Manager Janice Allen reported that
10
the river, which had already reached 500-year flood
plain boundaries, was still rising.
In Dougherty County, 16 shelters for flood
evacuees had already opened their doors. The shel-
ters filled quickly. Shocked flood victims recounted
devastating losses. Waynon Cantey fled from his
Martin Luther King Jr. residence to the Red Cross
shelter at Albany High School. Water came from
everywhere, he said. We didnt have a chance to
CONTINUED
11
Right: Downtown
Montezuma, engulfed by clay-
colored runoff from the stalled
tropical storm Alberto,
became a watery wasteland on
July 7.
Below: Beginning July 6,
Americus received 21 inches
of rain in 24 hours. US 19,
pictured here, and all other
roads to Americus, were
washed out by July 7.
RAIN OF TERROR CONTINUED
save anything. I havent been over there to see, but
what people tell me, everything is gone.
Alberto. The name means illustrious through
nobility, reference books say. People from Americus
might disagree. So might folks from Dawson. And
Newton, Fort Gaines, Macon, Smithville, Cuthbert,
Leesburg, Baconton, Montezuma, Bainbridge and
Albany. In South Georgia, Albertos name means
misery and destruction.
Left: Rampaging waters from a
failed pond dam washed out this
Americus roadway on July 7.
The Flood of 1994 claimed 15
lives in this Sumter County
community.
Right: Kelly Richardson, chief
operator at Plant Crisp, watched
water boiling from the gates of
the dam at Lake Blackshear. The
Flint River, which poured 1.5
million gallons of water a second
into the reservoir during the
flood, eventually breached
the dam.
Below right: The Broad Avenue
Bridge in Albany shuddered as
the current of the flooding Flint
River hammered its pilings. On
July 7, two hours after this
photo was taken, authorities
closed the bridge.
TRIAL BY WATER
Right: Curtis Brown
tried to drive his
truck off Cherry
Street in Albany, as
the Flint River sur-
prised the residents.
Within minutes the
road was flooded,
engulfing cars and
forcing residents to
evacuate.
Early in 1994, farmers and forecasters worried
that the drought of 1993 would tighten its
bony grip, strangling profits for com and cat-
tle producers for the second consecutive
summer. On Monday, July 4, those fears were
washed away. So was much, much more.
That day Albanylike other communities in
Middle and South Georgiaawoke to a deluge. The
rain came in torrents, flooding streets and yards and
turning sidewalks into waterways. Meteorologists
blamed the fierce, prolonged downpour on Tropical
Storm Alberto, which had stalled over Georgia. Two
Cuthbert families were evacuated when 8 inches of
rain in nine hours caused flash flooding. A tornado
chewed into a Worth County mobile home.
The rain continued, pounding mushy, saturat-
ed ground. Flash floods in Middle Georgia claimed
five lives Tuesday, July 5. The Leisure Lake Dam in
Warner Robins broke, flooding an apartment com-
plex downstream. Water swept over other dams,
smashing bridges and immersing roads. Governor
Zell Miller declared a state of emergency in 21 coun-
14
ties in central and southern Georgia.
On Wednesday, July 6, rain-driven floods
swamped Macons water plant, knocking out service
to 150,000 people. High water closed Interstates 16
and 75. Seventeen people died that day in unexpect-
edly deadly flooding, 15 in Sumter County. I tell
you, I have never seen anything like this before, said
Rhonda Bell of Americus. Weve had tornadoes in
this area, but a floodI cant believe my eyes.
CONTINUED
TRIAL BY
WATER
CONTINUED
A curious crowd gathered
to watch the advancing waters
of the Muckafoonee Creek
at 10a.m., July 6, in
SmithviUe.
Americus Fire Chief Steve Moreno was grim
and terse. Its sheer disaster.
Roads began closing all over Southwest
Georgia, stranding entire communities. Lee County
Emergency Management Director Charles Hardison
warned residents along the Kinchafoonee Creek to
expect a soaking. Still, many creekside residents were
taken by surprise. Newlywed Theresa Rief, who had
just moved into her dream home with husband
Tom, thought they had taken appropriate precau-
tions to avoid being flooded out. We had the land
surveyed and were careful that our new house would
be at least 3 feet over the 100-year-flood mark, she
said. We rushed around removing doors and trying
to save any other thing we could. But the water was
already chest-high in the back of the house, and by
the time we left, water was rushing in the front cov-
ering the floors.
Herb Benford had to be rescued twice from
his Lovers Lane residence. When the Muckalee
began to rise, Benford was called on by his sister, who
lived nearby, for help in saving her possessions. He
16
believed he had enough time to assist her and still
get his own family and belongings to safety. But by
the time he returned home two hours later, water was
gushing over the ground floor. In an effort to save
something of value, he loaded the family piano onto
a friends truck. Then a neighbor who was out of
town called, asking Benford to retrieve family heir-
loom pictures. Benford got the pictures, but in the
few minutes he was gone, water covered his driveway.
The piano, truck and two other vehicles were
marooned, as were Benford, his wife and daughter.
They were later rescued by the National Guard.
The next day, Benford and two friends
returned to the submerged house by boat. As they
headed toward Benfords carport, the motor stalled
and the vessel overturned.
The Muckalee was running about five times
as fast as it usually does, Benford said. Luckily, we
were able to grab onto the carport and pull ourselves
up. Otherwise, we would have been in big trouble.
CONTINUED
17
18

IPHrwf

TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
Above: Joe Johnson watches
helplessly as flood waters of
the Muckafoonee Creek
threaten his house on Hwy.
118 in Lee County.
Right: Albany City Manager
Roy Lane, left, consults with
Dougherty County
Administrator Alan Reddish
during a July 9 briefing at the
Crisis Command Center.
Far right: Even with aU 14
floodgates opened, the dam at
8,700-acre Lake Blackshear
was no match for the swollen
Flint River. On July 9th, the
dam, 35 miles upstream from
Albany, was breached.
Benford estimated that he was in the water
for three hours before one of his friends attracted the
attention of rescuers in a pontoon boat. It got a lit-
tle chilly, Benford said. But the worst part was all
the fire ants and ticks floating by. I bet I have at least
100 bites on my legs.
In Albany, engineers and officials monitoring
the flooding told City Manager Roy Lane and
Dougherty County Administrator Alan Reddish to
brace for the Flint River to crest at 37 feet, 17 feet
higher than flood stage. Disaster preparations went
into high gear, with evacuation plans for 14,000
Dougherty County residents to take effect by 6 p.m.
Thursday, July 7.
But the Flint had other ideas. When I got
called at 2:30 in the morning and told we were evac-
uating people from trees and rooftopsthats when it
hit me, Lane said.
The river surged to 41 feet. It ran faster, high-
er and stronger than anyone had anticipated. All day
Thursday, emergency management personnel raced
door-to-door, trying to move out people who resided
20
within the flood plain. Despite strong warnings,
many skeptics remained. The water is coming,
Lane cautioned. This is not a joke. This is an event
that everyone needs to take seriously and we are con-
cerned there are still a lot of people there.
Sgt. Larry Griffin of the Albany Police
Department spent six hours in a four-wheel-drive
vehicle assisting evacuees. Ive been in Albany for a
long time, and Ive never seen anything of this mag-
nitude, he said. The problem is that some people
didnt get out when they should. A lot of people did-
nt understand how serious it was and by the time the
water got there and they saw how fast the water was
moving, reality set in and it was almost too late.
Shelters opened at Dougherty and Albany
high schools. Stunned refugees from the flood began
arriving. Motels filled up. I think if a person really
searched for a room, they could maybe find one, but
theyre few and far between, said George Bryan,
general manager at the Holiday Inn Express.
CONTINUED
21
The streets rumbled with moving vans, rental
trucks and trailers crammed with furniture, clothing,
appliances and other belongings. Some people who
couldnt find trucks to rent were able to borrow them
from office supply houses and other local businesses.
Others were forced to make do with their automo-
bilesor to do without.
Its frightening, said Hilda Hazel as she
helped move furniture out of her sisters house on
South Washington Street. Ive always read about
people being evacuated at times like this, but Ive
never been evacuated. We just dont know whats
going to happen to us.
City and county work crews, troops from the
Marine Corps Logistics Base and volunteers began
hastily assembling sandbags at the Albany Civic
Center, where officials had set up a crisis center.
Some of the sandbags were used to hold river water
back from the facility; others were distributed to
whomever needed them.
Right: Jay Cole, an employee of
the firm that wrote flood insur-
ance for the Albany Civic
Center, helped fill and stack
sandbags there on July 7.
Below: A frigjrterxed dog took to
higher ground as flood water
raced across Zackery Court in
South Albany. Animal rescue
workers saved more than 800
pets during The Flood of 1994
Far right: Marines and National
Guardsmen, answering an
emergency call from Palmyra
Medical Centers, worked day
and night to hold water back
from the hospitals power supply.
Their labor paid off-the hospb
tal, though surrounded by water,
did not have to be evacuated.
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
That evening, Albany became a divided city.
Concerned that the strong, sharp current would
overwhelm bridges, officials closed all spans linking
the east and west sides of the river. The rising water
hindered mail delivery, halting it completely on the
east side of the river. East Albany Medical Center
became a 24-hour emergency treatment clinic; heli-
copters stood by to transport critical patients across
the river to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
Cries for help rang throughout the night. At
10 p.m., Palmyra Medical Centers put out an urgent
call: if the encroaching water could not be stemmed,
the hospitals 191 patients would be without electric-
ity. Many of the patients were nursing home resi-
dents who had been moved to the hospital earlier in
the day to escape flooding. Marines and members of
the National Guard raced to the hospitals rescue,
struggling all night to keep a dike of sandbags stacked
CONTINUED
.. T-gr-- |
23
Prisoners from Crisp County Correctional Institute sandbagged the dam at Lake Blackshear.
25
f i
higher than the rising water. Volunteers and emer-
gency management workers battled waves and dark-
ness to reach scores of desperate people stranded in
their homes.
By Friday, July 8, the weather-related death
toll had risen to 27 in Georgia. After driving around
barricades on the Liberty Expressway in Albany, a
New Jersey family was swept away and two young
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
Below: A Lee County resident
removed some of her belongings
from her home.
Right : The family of Robert
Mulford had a firsthand look at
The Great Flood of 1994 from
the front porch of his AUen
Avenue home in Albany.
26
wpT
brothers drowned. Jittery Dougherty County resi-
dents stockpiled food, batteries, flashlights and water.
Assistant City Manager Janice Allen urged residents
to flush toilets as little as possible to conserve water.
and reduce the amount of waste flowing into the
river. She also warned that sightseers posed a hazard
to emergency personnel. Instead of rubbernecking,
Allen suggested, people should volunteer to help in
sandbagging or rescue activities. Hundreds of volun-
teers responded, from individuals already homeless
from the flood to a Boy Scout troop from Tifton.
More shelters opened, and the Red Cross put out a
plea for water, food, cots and blankets.
CONTINUED
TRIAL BY WATER
CONTINUED
Right: During a 24-hour battle
to prevent Palmyra Medical
Centers from being over-
whelmed by rapidly rising
water, Marines and National
Guardsmen constructed a
sandbag dike and used a pump
to flush out water that seeped
past the dike.
Top: Jarvis Hightower and
other sandbaggers stopped at
the request of Rosalee Griffin,
83, to sandbag her home a
few minutes before
her evacuation.
Above: Volunteer Darrell
Holloway took a break from
stacking sandbags at flood-
threatened Palmyra Medical
Centers.
Right: Flood waters overrun
the buildings of Albany State
College.
I r~r~r v
The river bristled to an unprecedented height
of 43.3 feet. President Bill Clinton declared
Dougherty, Sumter, Bibb and Clayton counties
national disaster areas. Albany Mayor Paul Keenan,
proclaiming a state of emergency to protect evacuat-
ed areas, announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The
state Department of Natural Resources had already
performed an unbelievable amount of rescues in
Dougherty County, Lane said. Now, a caring army
was mobilizing in Southwest Georgia: 275 DNR offi-
cers, 200 state troopers, 2,800 members of the
Georgia Army and Air National Guard, hundreds of
Marines, 16 aircraft, 150 boats, 25 all-terrain vehi-
cles, 278 wheeled vehicles and 64 engineering vehi-
cles. An army of reporters also converged on Albany,
and national coverage of the disaster began. As the
word went out, churches, institutions and businesses
from across the country began lighting up flood hot-
lines with offers of help.
At Palmyra Medical Centers, the round-the-
clock sandbagging and pumping efforts by the
Marines and National Guard had paid off, saving a
28
mechanical room and emergency generators. The
hospital, though completely surrounded by water,
remained in operation. We were within two bricks
of evacuating totally, hospital president Doug Parker
observed. Stranded visitors and other volunteers
helped exhausted hospital personnel with chores and
housekeeping duties.
But sandbagging efforts elsewhere were not as
successful. On Saturday, July 9, Albany State College
was awash. The campus looks terrible, said Johnnie
Johnson, associate chief of public safety at ASC.
Everything other than the new library is covered.
The deluge had assumed characteristics of a
500-year-flood, declared Allen during a press brief-
ing. Water, Gas & Light Commission General
Manager Lemuel Edwards reported that four substa-
tions were out and the commissions operations
building was standing in five feet of water. Drinking
water remained pure, however, because WG&L cut
off the three wells at risk of being contaminated.
CONTINUED
29
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
Nevertheless, 89 experts on water purification were
on hand.
Thirty-five miles upstream, water breached
the dam at Lake Blackshear, but John Sperry, long-
time Albany city engineer who came out of retire-
ment to assist during the emergency, assured worried
Dougherty County residents that the spill-through
posed no danger. The water is about as high on the
downstream side as on the upstream side, so theres
no particular push to it. There will be no wall of
water crashing down on Albany. But officials wor-
ried that the enormous volume of water choking the
channel meant it would take the Flint a long time to
recede.
Meanwhile, the Kinchafoonee Creek, reach-
ing its crest, was unable to empty into the swollen
river and backed up in northwest Albany more than
expected. We had the least information on that
area, Reddish acknowledged. It impacted greater
than we anticipated.
One northwest Albany resident, Emory
CONTINUED
Below: On Saturday, July 9, the
Lake Blackshear dam was breached.
Right: Albany resident, Buddy
Drawdy, ofCromartie Beach, was
among the more than 24,200 people
in Dougherty County forced from
their homes.
30
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED III
Top: Volunteers return with a
boatload of rescued dogs who
were trapped by the flood.
Right: A volunteer rescue
worker wades in to rescue this
dog that was clinging to a
fence.
Far right: Henry Sizemore
rescues a dog from South
Albany. Sizemore donated the
use of his pontoon boat to res-
cue hundreds of animals.
Roberts, driven by the flood from his home at
Kingstown Apartments on Whispering Pines,
returned later by boat to rescue his pets. Rising water
had engulfed the first-story dwellings in the complex.
I had three cats and a dog left up here and I couldnt
sleep for thinking about them, Roberts said.
Hundreds of other trapped pets were rounded
up by animal control workers and volunteers from as
far away as Colorado. Dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits
and even turkeys and peacocks were found perched
on sheds, porches, rooftops, trees and trucks.
Temporary pens were erected, but so many animals
were eventually rescued that the Albany Humane
Society ran out of space and resources. Foster fami-
lies opened their homes to provide care for the dis-
placed pets until their owners could be located.
But matching pets and owners was difficult.
The tally of people evacuated in Dougherty County
had climbed to 24,200. Thirty shelters had opened in
Dougherty and Lee counties and at least another 31
shelters were accepting evacuees around Southwest
Georgia. I never would have dreamed I would have
32
to go through this, said Alycin Price, who turned to
the Red Cross shelter at Albany High School after
she, her son Justin, 6, and her daughter Heather, 5,
were washed out of their Telfair Road residence. I
knew everything would be okay as long as I got my
kids out of there.
But the flood did more than uproot the liv-
ingit also disturbed the dead. Hundreds of caskets
bobbed from their graves in low-lying Oakview and
Riverside cemeteries as the 43.3 feet of water in the
Flint transformed soil into soft, muddy pudding. The
priority right now is to retrieve as many as we can,
and stop as many of them as we can from going
downriver, pledged Dougherty County Coroner
Bucky Brookshier. Workers were charged with col-
lecting the caskets which had risen to the surface,
moving them to the Exchange Club Fairgrounds for
refrigeration and establishing identification. I was
just trying to think of it as doing a job, said Airman
Mike Trim of Valdosta, visibly drained following a
CONTINUED
33
21-hour workday. I was trying not to think of it as
dragging some lOO-year-old woman around. You
dont want to show any disrespect.
Gov. Zell Miller, accompanied by Sen. Paul
Coverdell and James Whitt, director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, came to Albany to
inspect areas ravaged by the flood. This is a terrible
tragedy. Were doing everything possible to help
you, Miller told Emma Adams, an elderly resident of
the flooded-out Washington Street Housing Project.
Communities downstream began to feel the
brunt of the flood on Sunday, July 10. Newton, with
10 feet of water rolling over downtown streets, was a
watery ghost town. A key bridge in Baker County,
the only crossing between Albany and Bainbridge,
was closed; officials feared rushing waters were
undermining it and that a restaurant which had been
washed off its foundations would slam into it and
destroy it. Baconton, situated on a hill, had become
an island, cut off on all sides by the deluge. Although
Right: This goose mas one of the
few creatures who found it easy
to negotiate the swamped streets
of Putney. This July 11 photo
was one of the first views West
Albany had of East Albany after
the bridges were reopened.
Below: Cleanup crews worked
overtime in Lee County near
Creekside Drive.
Far right: Kenny Tarleton (L)
and his father, Jim Tarleton,
pondered what the future held as
they awaited a FEMA damage
assessor at their flooded Gary
Avenue home adjacent to
Whispering Pines.
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
residents were high and dry, they were without drink-
ing water.
Lee County residents began returning to their
homes, In neighborhood after neighborhood, piles of
water-logged debris began appearing on front yards.
What had been homes filled with furniture, toys,
clothing and the murmur of daily life had become
muck-coated, hollow shells that echoed with splash-
es, drips and sighs of disgust and despair. Adding to
the misery, the pervasive, piercing smell of mildew,
dead fish and heated, rotting sewage made people
gag-
'd expected a terrible sight, but this is far
worse than I anticipated, said Kathleen Bryant,
looking around and clutching a photo of her late
husband she had salvaged from the sodden ruins of
her Raintree Apartment condominium.
CONTINUED
Left: Traffic was backed up
on Slappey Drive in Albany
due to a utility settlement
at Slappey and Palmyra
Road.
Right: By midday, July 9,
floodwaters had swallowed
automobiles and swamped
residences along Wells
Avenue. The water rose so
rapidly that many residents
were unable to save any
belongings.
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
Right: Ducks on Lake
Chehaw in Albany found
refuge on a two-story roof top.
Below right: This exhausted
dog found a haven from the
floods in an abandoned van in
South Albany. Cats, dogs,
rabbits and birds rescued from
the water were, like this ani-
mal, taken to the Albany
Humane Society.
Throughout Albany, residents traded infor-
mation and devoured newspaper, radio and television
reports. The watery onslaught, which had descended
so suddenly, was taking a maddeningly long time to
crest. City Engineer Bruce Maples announced that
the Flint was expected to reach its highest point
Sunday nightand that it would remain there for a
while. What we expect is not a real quick peak, but
a plateau, he explained.
A sense of disbelief and disconnection hung
over the city. Daily life had become surreal as the dis-
aster unfolded. In neighborhoods and subdivisions
untouched by the flood, residents cut their grass,
played golf, walked their dogs, shopped at grocery
stores that seemed ordinary except for huge displays
of bottled water and cleaning agents. Power, water,
garbage pick-up, even newspaper delivery continued
as normal. The Albany Mall, Southwest Georgias
main retail center, was open but hushed. Scattered
showers, unremarkable in July in Albany, occasional-
ly interrupted brilliant sunshine. Strangely snarled
traffic, streets that emptied after dusk and the heli-
36



Sr
copters and planes crisscrossing the skies gave the
strongest evidence that something was wrong.
For the Flood of 1994 was a sneaky disaster.
When the tornado of 1940 hit Albany, winds
shrieked, blasting buildings apart and toppling trees.
The storm, quick, loud and deadly, demolished
downtown Albany. People heard and saw the
destruction as it took place. The 500-year flood was
different. No wall of foaming water crashed down ...
CONTINUED
37
Below: Curlie BeU. Redding (R) and Robert Bunts cuddled
no tremors shook and split the earth ... no fiery flares
or plumes of smoke blotted out the sky ... no wind
howled. Instead, the flood quickly spread out a filthy,
stinking blanket, then let it settle slowly over
Southwest Georgia. Beneath that thick, brown blan-
ket, unseen and unheard, the Flint River efficiently,
deliberately and silently destroyed all that it touched.
Meanwhile, in the shelters, excitement and
adrenaline still stimulated many evacuees; municipal
officials and Red Cross and other disaster relief
experts expressed concern that a full understanding
of all that was lost had not yet hit. As emergency
management personnel had feared, the death toll
continued to rise. Ishkabah Tanatrous Linkhom, the
28th fatality, was pulled from the water in South
Albany.
Police remained vigilant for looters. We
have known from the beginning to expect some loot-
ing, and it has started, said Dougherty County
Police Chief Bill Kicklighter. Some thieves used
38
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
Above: A weary officer directed traffic on North Slappey Drive in Albany while city workers repaired an open utility settlement,
their grandchild, Demetrius Redding, as they met with a FEMA counselor about housing and food assistance. The pair lost everything in the flood.
boats to reach abandoned homes, he said. But heli-
copters equipped with spotlights and heat-sensing
devices helped officers zero in on looters invading
flooded neighborhoods. Lawmen also patrolled on
foot, in automobiles and by boat.
A disaster assistance center operated by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency was being
prepared to open Monday, July 12 ... during what
Gov. Miller was calling the worst natural disaster in
Georgia history.
39
TRIAL BY WATER CONTINUED
A ranger with the Department of Natural Resources transported Georgia Power workers to high ground near Radium Springs Casino
to correct power problems caused by the high waters.
41
FAITHS BRIDGE THE ROOD
Above: The Rev. Daniel
Simmons preached his sermon
on a Jewish pulpit while
repairs were made to Me.
Zion Baptist Church in South
Albany. The recently-reno-
vated church had $2 million in
flood insurance.
Right: Hannah Miller wiped
tears from her eyes during the
Baptist service. Family,
friends and fellow church
members were affected by the
flood.
Far right: Marva Berry (R)
and Van Wilson comfort each
other during the service at
Temple BNai Israel.

Ibove the doorway into Temple BNai Israel, words
are inscribed in gold paint. They read: My
house shall be called a house of prayer for all
peoples.
The words have never been more true than
they were on July 17, 1994.
Thats when Temple BNai Israel became the
temporary home for two faiths: Jewish during Friday
evening services and Baptist on Sunday.
After Mount Zion Baptist Church was dam-
aged by floodwaters, the Rev. Daniel Simmons
thought of asking Rabbi Elijah Palnick if his congre-
gation could use the temple. He never had the
chance. The rabbi offered before Simmons asked.
Were friends. He thought of me and I
thought of him, Palnick said.
When the rabbi opened his synagogue to us
and we came to see the facility here, he told me,
Youre out of Egypt, but youre not in the promised
land, Simmons told the crowd of nearly 400 that
Sunday. Sunlight streamed through colorful stained
glass windows depicting the Torah, the Star of David
42
and Jewish holidays as the minister reminded
churchgoers of the Israelites long journey to the
promised land.
Simmons said that like the Israelites, Mount
Zions congregation faced a hard journey through a
wilderness of destroyed houses, damaged furniture,
lost income and irreplaceable possessions.
Fortunately, the church had more than just
faith to see it through the ordeal. When a recent
addition was made to the church building, it was
required to buy $2 million in flood insurance.
After inspecting how six feet of flood water
had buckled floors, tossed pews and caked walls with
mud, Simmons allowed it could take all $2 million to
restore Mount Zion. The cleanup, he warned, would
take weeks.
But the rabbi said that Mount Zion was wel-
come at Temple Bnai. Blessed are you, welcome are
you who come here in the name of God, Palnick
said in Hebrew, then English. We bless you, we wel-
come you into the house of God.
Amen, responded the Baptist congregation.
43
Left: Profits floated away as
river water rolled over this
catfish farm north of Newton.
Right : Farmer Greg Whiddon
tossed aside a peanut plant in
disgust at the soggy condition
of his field near Lake
Blackshear in northern Worth
County. 100 acres of
Whiddons peanuts - what he
felt would have been his best
crop in years were under
water.
Below: High water rolled sud-
denly over Lee County, flood-
ing homes, roads and
croplands.
FARMERS HOPES
SANK UNDER THE ROOD
outhwest Georgians fled to higher ground
when floodwaters arrived in July 1994, but the
regions farmland stayed right where it was
sometimes under more than eight feet of
muddy water.
Floodwater damaged almost every crop grown
in Southwest Georgia, said Bob Marlowe, a commodi-
ties specialist with the Georgia Farm Bureau.
The rampaging Flint turned portions of a 190-
acre peanut field into a lake at the Mitchell County
spread of Glenn Cox. Is that a sickening sight? he
asked. Peanuts can tolerate droughts better than
floods. Oh, God. Laugh or cry. What are you going to
do?
As water began receding, state officials pre-
dicted crop damage caused by the flood could total
$100 million. The wash had inundated more than
300,000 acres of crops. Of that, more than 113,000
44
acres were peanuts, the states top cash row crop.
Peanut farmers who had been optimistic about the
coming year felt their hopes drain as the water rose.
Ive never seen anything like this, and Ive
been farming all my life, said Wilbur Gamble, chair-
man of the Georgia Peanut Commission in Tifton.
We dont know what well run into later on because
weve never had counties with 22 inches of rain.
In addition to peanuts, about 17,000 acres of
com, 3,000 acres of pecans and 64,000 acres of cot-
ton were estimated to be overrun by floodwaters, said
Fred Greer of the Georgia Department of
Agriculture. Vegetables and fruits were also
swamped. Plump, rosy peaches turned moldy white
and rotted on trees because pickers couldnt get to
flooded orchards, and trucks that delivered them to
market couldnt navigate washed-out bridges.
45
A FLOOD OF DETERMINATION
Above: Residents marked the
heights reached by floodwaters
on this building in downtown
Newton.
Right and far right: Annette
Hart, 71, makes one last call
at the evacuated Baker
County Courthouse shordy
before 10 feet of water rolled
through the town. On July
10, downtown Newton was a
watery ghost town.
A s the Flint River gulped roads, neighborhoods
/ % and bridges during the Flood of 1994, it also
swallowed most of the small farming commu-
JL JL nity of Newton. But the people of Baker
County experienced one important victory in the
ordealthey saved their health center from the maw
of the river.
It could have been a major catastrophe, said
Dr. James Hotz, who heads up the primary health
care organization that serves East Albany, Baker
County and Leesburg.
Built about 15 years ago with funds from the
Robert Woodruff Foundation, the facility had under-
gone an expansion in 1993 that doubled its size.
Physicians at the center see townspeople and resi-
dents of the county and nearby counties. During
1993, 3,400 patients made 18,000 trips to the clinic,
which is guided by a board of directors made up of
members of the community. You have local leader-
ship setting the standards, Hotz said, noting the
clinic boasts 100 percent child immunizations in the
county, an unheard of statistic. These people just
46
care about folks.
The sentiment was reciprocated. As residents
of the town of 700 realized the seriousness of the
impending flood, they went to work. Eventually 130
or so people from a wide range of backgrounds came
together, bringing equipment, muscle-power and grit-
ty determination.
The first line of defense was a sandbag dike
that completely ringed the Baker County Health
Clinic. The floodwall was constructed by about 40
employees of the Joseph W. Jones Ecological
Research Center at Ichauway. We sent all the
employees we could muster up, said Bill Walton,
Jones Center director.
They were joined by 30 National Guardsmen.
Calhoun County sent about 20 prisoners to help, and
Mitchell County sent a dozen. Sandbags were filled
at Mitchell County Correctional Institute and
trucked to Newton. Robert Smith, a conservation
biologist with the Jones Center, estimated that
CONTINUED
47
A ROOD OF
DETERMINATION
CONTINUED
Left: When flood waters pre-
vented the use of the Baker
County Health Clinic, in
Newton, physicians, nurses
and other medical personnel set
up a MASH tent to provide
treatment to residents.
Below: Volunteers prepared to
return Big Red, the pump
that saved the Baker County
medical facility, to the
Ichauway Plantation Fire
Department.
Right: Authorities debated
blowing up the River Trace
restaurant when it floated from
its foundation and threatened
to slam into the bridge. The
restaurant, shown here pinned
by trees and a power pole,
eventually broke up by itself.
20,000 to 40,000 sandbags were used.
We kept thinking, Weve got it up now. We
can stop, recalled Smith, who is also chief of the
Ichauway Plantation Fire Department. But the
water kept coming up. The first three days were a
constant struggle. The walls caved in several times.
The northeast corner of the dike was closest
to the rising Flint, and it was there that the flood
kept breaching the barrier. The volunteers turned to
a second line of defenseseven pumps that were
used to expel the muddy water seeping through the
sandbags. But it soon became apparent that even
seven pumps were not enough to hold back the rip-
pling waters.
One piece of equipment remained, an old
military surplus pump that the Ichauway Plantation
Fire Department had gotten from the Georgia
Forestry Service. The pump, quickly nicknamed Big
Red, was loaded onto a semi-trailer, which was
backed into the water. Powered by a gasoline genera-
tor, Big Red began pumping 1,000 gallons of water
a minute back over the wall.
It was like the old firehorse coming out for
one last battle, Plotz said. This old pump, they
werent even sure it would work. But for 48 hours,
Big Red held the wall. This old, reconditioned
48
pump that they had painted red won the battle for
them.
We would have been out of operation for
months if not for what Ichauway did, said Juneile
Rhodes, chief nurse for the Baker County Health
Department, one of the three medical organizations
that share the medical facility. Its just been unreal
the help weve had and cooperation from all the
people.
Once the water receded, the first thing the
volunteers wanted to know was whether their labor
paid off, Hotz said. These guys were fatigued. They
said, Doc, open er up. We want to see if theres
water.
When he opened the doors to the facility,
and the volunteers could see the floors were dry, a
whoop erupted that sounded like the battle cry of
victory, the doctor said. It really showed how much
they felt about that building.
Added Mrs. Rhodes, Its just a heartwarming
experience to know that people could work together
so well under these stressful conditions. People came
from all over the county and worked in the middle
of the night to save that clinic. And they saved it.
49
Right: On the steps of the
Sherwood shelter, in Albany,
family and friends found comfort
in each other as they awaited
word on their flooded homes.
MUD, SWEAT
AND TEARS
Top: Flood water nibbled at
the Albany Civic Center on
July 8. Downtown Albany,
behind the facility, is situated
on high ground and escaped
the flood virtually unscathed.
Above: Businesses were
assaulted by waves of filthy
brown river water. Many
structures on the south side of
Albany foundered under as
much as 8 feet of water.
Right: An Albany policeman
and a DNR official patrolled
the flooded Piggly Wiggly
parking lot on North Slappey
Drive, in Albany.
For days, the crest had gradually worked its way
down the throat of the Flint River, like a pig in
a python. Monday, July 11, 1994, at 7:15 a.m., it
finally reached downtown Albany. The new
high-water record: 43.82 feet. In Dougherty County,
23 square miles14,500 acreswere underwater.
The flood had driven 22,800 people from 8,500 resi-
dences in Dougherty County. Many, jammed into 38
shelters operated by the Red Cross and local church-
50
es, anxiously awaited word of when they could return
home. Those who thought that the arrival of the
crest would signal a rapid return to normalcy
received disappointing news.
The crest has arrived, but there is still mil-
lions and millions and millions of gallons of water
out there, and it will be weeks before it disappears,
cautioned City Manager Roy Lane. We tire nearing
the end of Phase One.
Phase Two, clean-up and recovery, would take
weeks, city officials said. In early 95, we will still be
doing a lot of flood-related work, Assistant City
Manager Janice Allen predicted. Phase Three,
rebuilding, would take years, she said.
The river, which had been in no hurry to
crest, showed itself to be in no hurry to subside,
either. Albany residents learned the river was expect-
ed to remain at crest level for two days before sinking
slowly beneath its flood stage of 20 feet.
Two new kinds of floods appeared, spawned
by the disaster. One was a flood of traffic choking a
100-mile-route that, in the absence of bridges, served
as the only connector between East and West
Albany. The out-of-the-way route took about two
hours to travel. Vehicles inched north bumper-to-
CONTINUED
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Right: Susie Spivey comforted her
father, Robert Midford, as he
watched flood waters rise into his
Allen Avenue home in Albany.
Far right: Nicholas Gilman, with
the American Humane
Association out of Denver,
Colorado, and Laura Be van, with
the Humane Society of the U.S.,
southeast office in Tallahassee,
talked via cellular phones before
going out to rescue animals. Many
ground lines were knocked out by
flooding, so cellular phones
became communications lifelines.
Below: More than l ,000 appli-
cants waited to meet with FEMA
counselors when the first assis-
tance center opened.
bumper through the small towns of Leesburg and
Leslie before reaching Cordele, then turning south
toward Sylvester.
The second was a flood of humanity greeting
workers who opened the doors of a Federal
Emergency Management Agency disaster relief
office. An estimated 1,000 flood victims waited to
sign up for loans and grants. I never had to apply for
anything like this before, said the Rev. Arthur Lee
Wright, who was forced out of his Harvey Road
home by the deluge. Never even drawn an unem-
ployment check in my 54 years, but I might need one
now. Countless additional applications were taken
by telephone.
Downstream, state police and military troop-
ers swarmed through Bainbridge, where the Flint was
expected to crest Thursday at 45 feet. More than a
third of the citys 10,000 residents had fled the
advancing flood waters. South of town, National
Guardsmen helped construct a 10-foot earthen dike
to shield a fertilizer plant housing 9 million pounds
of toxic ammonia, which reacts violently with water
52
and can be poisonous if inhaled. In Newton, resi-
dents remained paralyzed by flood water. I dont
know when its going to crest or how highIm just
trying to deal with what we got as it comes, and keep
people safe, said Charley Duke, the countys emer-
gency management director.
During the height of the flood there appeared
some small reminders that life can triumph even in
the midst of destruction. At Phoebe Putney
Memorial Hospital, brother-and-sister twins,
Brandon William and Brandi Nicole, were born to
Mr. and Mrs. W.C. Porter; and Krista Ann was bom
to Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Murphy.
On Tuesday, July 12, Sen. Sam Nunn, chair-
man of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
brought some of the Pentagons top brass to
Southwest Georgia in a show of continued support
and to see the devastation firsthand. We never
thought wed see anything like this, and we hope and
pray well never see anything like it again, Nunn
CONTINUED
53
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
I
Above: Military helicopters,
used to transport troops to
needed areas, were common
sights at Central Square in
downtown Albany.
Right: National Guardsmen
like Sgt.lst Class Eddie Caldo
(L) and Staff Sgt. Joseph
Bailey were vital to the flood
relief effort.
Far right: Samuel Gregg lost
everything to the flood, except
his family. His grandchild let
him know when naptime was
over at the Porterfield shelter
in Albany.
said. This is not the time for formality. It is the time
for a full measure of common sense. This is no time
for a turf battle. Weve got to have teamwork.
Among the most visible military team players
were members of the National Guard. The Guard
was fully committed to combating the flood from
Macon south, said Maj. Gen. William P. Bland, com-
mander of the states Guard. Its like fighting a bat-
tle with a 125-mile front. Ive never been prouder of
our personnel.
But, despite pledges of support and offers of
state and federal aid, Albany Mayor Paul Keenan
sounded a somber warning. Its still up to us. As
much as we appreciate the support, we are still
responsible.
Further, while water continued to hover near
crest stage, morale drained away at shelters. Theres
no privacy, but youve got to put up with it, said
Gwendolyn Arnold, who, with husband Bobby and
three children, had found refuge from the flood at
the First Assembly of God Church. Many evacuees
staying at church shelters were able to bathe at the
54
homes of church members, while evacuees staying at
school shelters used locker rooms for personal
hygiene. Workers and volunteers conceded the shel-
ters were hot, crowded and noisy, but said they were
running as smoothly as could be expected. You have
to understand its a shelter, said Albany High
Athletic Director Scott Horton, who had donned a
volunteers hat as Red Cross daytime director at the
AHS shelter. Its not plush or luxurious, but there
are 100 positives to every negative.
Shelter volunteers, many of whom were flood
victims themselves, were frustrated by complaints.
The residents have to realize that this place is not
going to be like the Ritz Carlton, said Patricia Perry,
a volunteer director at Albany High. She had saved
only the clothes she was wearing when the flood bil-
lowed into her residence and now she was working
12 to 18-hour days at the shelter.
The latest potential flood victim appeared to
be the democratic process itself. With primary elec-
CONTINUED
56
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Residents of Americus viewed the damage to a bridge washed out by flash flooding.
57
tions only a week away, officials began gathering
information to determine whether voting should be
delayed because of the disaster. Fourteen polling
places in Dougherty County were underwater or were
being used as shelters.
On Wednesday, July 13, a helicopter bearing
the president of the United States lifted off the
ground in Albany and tracked the bloated Flint River
23 miles downstream to Newton. President Bill
Clintons inspection revealed terrible devastation,
he said. This is a very serious disaster, continued
Clinton, who was accompanied to Albany by the
governors of Georgia, Florida and Alabama as well as
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy and FEMA
Director James Lee Whitt.
In a flood like this, the biggest tragedy is
always the human tragedy, the president said, pledg'
ing $65.5 million in federal aid to help offset flood
damages. Our commitment is to stay in this for the
long run.
Right: Flood waters poured over
the Georgia Power Dam in
Albany as heavy rain continued
to fall.
Far right: President Bill Clinton
and Rep.Sanford Bishop
listened to the plight of local
flood victims.
Below: Owners of Mama Jeans
Country Kitchen on Palmyra
Road checked the water level as
flood waters continued to rise.
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
President Clinton also briefly visited the
FEMA disaster assistance station set up at Highland
Middle School. He told us to keep our heads up,
said Jimmy Thomas, 17, who got a hug from the com-
mander in chief. Im glad he came. I think him
being here will bring us more money.
Clintons visit was motivational, said
National Guard Sgt. Michael Overstreet. It lets peo-
ple know people in Washington are concerned about
Albany. >
Meanwhile, a second FEMA center opened in
East Albany, arid the disaster agency also began dis-
tributing emergency food stamps.
Albanys crawl into recovery was being ham-
pered by a new hazardsinkholes. Pavement, vehi-
cles and structures were being consumed by the gap-
ing holes, which were formed when floodwater liqui-
fied some of the domes of dirt that had covered
CONTINUED
Right: On July 10, Wallace
Vanzant helped his grandson
Zach Fender, 6, across what was
left of Kinchafoonee Creek Road,
in Albany.
Below: David Brantley, 62,
mourned the loss of his wife,
Pearlie Mae, who was one of the
flood's 31 fatalities. Mrs.
Brantley drowned in the couples
home after she slipped from her
perch on a floating refrigerator.
Albanys numerous underground caverns. Just
because roads are dry, it does not mean that they are
safe, City Manager Lane said. Sinkholes are just as
dangerous as the water.
The 29th flood victim, Pearlie Mae Brantley,
was pulled from her South Albany home by rescue
workers. Her husband survived by sawing a hole in
the ceiling with a butcher knife and staying in the
swelteiring attic. She went down and bobbed back
up and I grabbed for her, David Brantley recalled. I
60
kept grabbing. I had her hair, I had her arm and
thats the last I saw of her until the rescue squad
came down.
The couple had been married for 38 years.
While stationed with the Air Force in Japan,
Brantley had been captivated by a photograph of her
that belonged to a friend. I said, Thats the woman
Im going to marry, he recalled. His friend bet $5
that she wouldnt even talk to him. After returning
to Turner Air Field in Albany, Brantley had one date
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
with her and collected his winnings.
Police had tried to evacuate the pair at 10
a.m. on July 7. She just said she wasnt leaving,
Brantley said. There was no use in me leaving her
there alone.
While misery remained afloat in Albany,
Bainbridge residents had received good news. When
we first made our emergency plans, we were planning
on local flooding from rain like what happened in
Americus, but now it appears that worst-case sce-
nario is not going to be the case, said Assistant
Chief Doyle Welch of Bainbridge Public Safety, the
citys combined fire and police department.
The Flint River was running out of juice. On
Thursday, July 14, it crested in Bainbridge at less
than 38 feet, seven feet below predictions. An esti-
mated 3,500 Bainbridge residents began returning
home, irritated at the inconvenience of evacuat-
ing, but jubilant at having escaped the massive dam-
age the Flint had inflicted upstream.
61
Left: Dozens of pedestrians,
including these Dougherty
County School System
employees, crossed the
Broad Avenue bridge, in
Albany, on July 14-after
days of having to drive a
two-hour route to get to the
other side of town.
Right: Newlyweds
Margaret King, 80, and
Robert King, 86, moved
into the Willow Apartments
on Whispering Pines, in
Albany, shortly after their
March, 1993 wedding. The
couple, who lost everything,
found refuge with family
in Richland.
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Right: The Flint River lapped
at the roof of St. Marks
Episcopal Church on the cor-
ner of Holly and Cherry
Laurel in Radium Springs
on July 11.
Below right: Southside
Library, with its distinctive
roofline, became a guidepost
for people navigating the
flooded streets of South
Albany.
Finally, some of Dougherty Countys woes
were beginning to evaporate. The river, though still
20 feet above flood stage, had dropped more than
three feet. East and West Albany were reunited as
the Broad Avenue bridge reopened to foot traffic
only. Hundreds of pedestrians who had been com-
muting to work via a circular 100-mile route scurried
to the other side of the Flint River. Leif Tollefson of
East Albany said opening the bridge was almost a
dream come true. He was tired of the two-hour, five-
county route he had been forced to take to work. It
wasnt fun, he said. Walking was much easier.
Police also relaxed the curfew in areas that
were more than 200 yards away from waterlogged
neighborhoods. A few looters had been arrested, but
Dougherty County Chief Bill Kicklighter warned res-
idents that the worst wave of criminal scavengers
would appear after neighborhoods began drying out.
Lawmen also warned flood victims to avoid being
victimized again, this time by con artists. The
Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced it was
forming an anti-fraud task force to work in the 41
62
counties designated as disaster areas.
Residents of Lee County and parts of North
Albany donned boots, gloves, goggles and even
masks as they began cleaning out flood-wrecked
homes and businesses. In some areas, cranes and
dump trucks were busy scooping away six-foot-high
heaps of trash piled by residents in their front yards.
The pungent smell of bleach mingled with the
stench of putrid water and mold. Hundreds of resi-
CONTINUED
dents lined up for tetanus shots.
The state Labor Department announced that
$4 million had been earmarked to hire long-term
unemployed people and workers who had lost their
jobs to the flood. They would be employed in clean-
up activities. The Marine Corps Logistics Base,
announcing the Turner Field medical facility had
been flooded, asked military retirees and dependents
to seek treatment elsewhere. The rest of the base
escaped being soaked.
Maureen Johnson of Dawson became the
30th flood victim when she drove into a culvert on a
washed-out road in Terrell County.
After one week as a divided city, Albany
became whole again July 15. The Liberty Bypass
reopened to vehicular traffic, while foot travelers
Right: Highway 49 in
Americus was washed out by
flooding that killed 15 and left
the waterlogged community cut
off from the rest of the world.
Far right: The Georgia
Department of Transportation
used underwater sonar devices to
check the footings of bridges
spanning the rampaging
Flint River.
The Branch Medical Clinic at
Turner Field was the only
Marine Corps Logistics Base
building lost to the flood.
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
crossed the Oglethorpe bridge. The pedestrians could
then board shuttle buses that ferried them to various
job sites. The Georgia Department of Transportation
was using underwater sonar devices to check the
structural integrity of Dougherty Countys bridges.
A third FEMA assistance center opened, and
officials said more than 5,000 applications for aid
were being processed. In addition, more than $1.9
million in food stamps had been issued in Dougherty
County.
Local and state officials toughened measures
aimed at confounding profiteers and flim-flam artists,
Were going to do our very best to make sure what
CONTINUED
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Left: A pontoon boat was
trapped beneath the second
story of a Lake Chehaw
home.
Right: The Washington
Housing Project was
destroyed by the flood.
Officials plan to raze the
project, leaving dozens of
residents homeless.
Right.- Morris Flemming, 53,
who lived on the corner of 7th
Street and Jackson, waded
after a plastic bin floating on a
flooded neighborhood street.
Below right: This teen-ager
and his dog found many
changes in his South Albany
neighborhood when he
returned after the deluge. The
explorers were briefly trans-
fixed by the sight of a huge
bass trapped in a garbage can
when flood waters receded.
happened in Florida with Hurricane Andrew doesnt
happen here, said Agent Jim Baker of the GBI. No
new business licenses were being issued, and any
businesses using vehicles in Dougherty County were
required to obtain a special city/county permit for
each vehicle.
Election officials announced that primary
elections would proceed as scheduled July 19,
although some polling places were to be relocated
because of the disaster. The Dougherty County
School System announced that eight educational
facilities had sustained water damage.
By Saturday, July 16, Albany and Dougherty
County officials had vowed to concentrate on help-
ing displaced residents return home to start the long,
hard cleanup. The announcement came none too
soon for many of the 2,000 evacuees still housed in
shelters. I cant wait until they either let us move
into our house or into one of them trailers theyre
talking about hauling down here, Kathy Favors said
from a cot in the Lake Park Elementary School shel-
ter. Weve been in these shelters long enough.
66
Tension had mounted in some quarters, as
frustrated evacuees and volunteers griped about mis-
communications and limited access to supplies and
transportation. Meanwhile, hundreds of flood-dazed
residents were flowing daily through Red Cross
Service Centers, where they met with caseworkers
who assessed their needs and were issued vouchers
for food, clothing, beds, prescription medications and
other necessities. The Salvation Army also operated
CONTINUED
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS
CONTINUED
food and clothing donation and distribution ware-
houses to assist flood victims. Churches, businesses,
institutions and individuals opened their hearts and
their wallets, directing a rush of aid toward
Southwest Georgia.
But the greatest need was the hardest to
addresshousing. An estimated 9,200 Albany resi-
dences had been hit by the deluge; 4,900 of them
had been submerged under six to eight feet of filthy,
destructive water. In the low-income section of
South Albany, as many as 2,000 homes were
destroyed.
On Sunday, July 17, officials had released a
staggering statistic: Up to 7,000 Albany residents
nearly 9 percent of the citys populationhad lost
their homes. Another 12,000 residents needed to
repair their homes before returning to them. Some
of the houses dont look that bad at first, but our
inspectors are finding that many of them were
knocked off their foundations by the floodwaters,
Assistant City Manager Allen said.
CONTINUED
Right: Two houses were devoured by a huge sinkhole at the comer of
Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Jefferies Avenue.
Below: Danny Fillingame checks one of the seven diesel pumps
draining the water from the Piggly Wiggly parking lot to another
pump section across Slappey Drive in Albany. Pumps were moving
7,000 gallons of water per minute out of the parking lot.
69
Below: Kay Adams, who was
flooded out of her own home,
was appalled by the condition
of the few rental units avail-
able. A large portion of
Albanys affordable and low-
income housing was inundat-
ed by high water, leaving
displaced residents with few
options.
Right: As the flood waters
receded, overturned cars and
boats on rooftops were left as
evidence of the destruction.
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Temporary housing in the form of 26 mobile
homes and 14 travel trailers had already been sent,
with more units to follow; but officials had to find a
location with existing utilities for them.
While the Flint River plummeted to 26.8
feet, sinkholes continued to torment flood survivors.
As water drained from Lloyd Kinneys 10th Avenue
yard, seven sinkholes were exposed. One toppled a
40-foot tree, while another threatened his backyard
storage shed. Right now, well just wait and see,
Kinney said. We dont know if the holes are going
to get any bigger.
Kinney and his wife, Marguerite, contended
they were luckier than most. They had a motor home
parked at their sons Albany residence and many of
their belongings were rescued before the flood. Still,
the loss of the house where they had lived for 47
years would be a staggering blow. Im 79 years old,
Kinney said. How can I recover from this? How
could I buy another house? Ill be dead before I can
pay off a government loan.
The Flint River stood at 20.8 feetonly
70
slightly above its 20-foot flood stageon Monday,
July 18.
Three of Albanys four bridges were handling
vehicular traffic, while pedestrians were allowed to
travel over the fourth.
A consultant for Albany State College told
24 members of the Georgia House and Senate
Appropriations Committee that flood damages at the
four-year institution could reach $50 million. The
destruction at Albany State has been devastating,
said Billy Ray, vice president for administration and
finance at Georgia Institute of Technology and the
coordinator for ASCs repair effort. All 31 buildings
were damaged. All but two of the buildings had
between eight and 10 feet of water in them.
From the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
came the disheartening news that the recovery and
identification of bodies displaced from cemeteries
could take months. Riverside Cemetery appeared to
be the most damaged by the deluge. It affected every
CONTINUED
71







72

MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED








Tim Pope and Andre Leroux inspected damage at the Albany State College Natatorium.
73
MUD, SWEAT AND TEARS CONTINUED
Right: A volunteer helps
remove the brown mud that
covered the inside of St.
Marks Episcopal Church.
Far right: The flood waters
and the accompanying sink-
holes chewed up pavement
near the comer of Jefferson
and Gowan Streets in
Albany.
Above: A young volunteer
watched as engines pumped
flood water from the Piggly
Wiggly parking lot on North
Slappey Drive in Albany.
section of the cemetery out there, explained
Coroner Bucky Brookshier. Limesinks are coming
up within the cemetery that could affect more graves
that havent been flooded.
Georgia National Guard assistance moved
into the second phase of recovery, and received a
salute from local officials. At a news conference,
Mayor Keenan thanked Col. William Thielemanns
48th Infantry Brigade, which arrived July 8 to pro-
vide humanitarian relief, and welcomed Col. Ben
Grinsteads 265th Engineer Group, which would
repair county roads and culverts, fill washouts and
man security checkpoints.
The Albany Humane Society put out a call
for owners of pets lost during the flood. More than
800 dogs were picked up during the crisis, officials
reported. Approximately 70 rescued dogs succumbed
to flood-related ailments despite treatment at the
shelter; another 270 dogs tied or trapped in houses
had drowned.
74
Tuesday, July 19, was especially noteworthy in
Albany for two reasons: It was election day ... and
the day the Flint River finally dipped below flood
stage. Despite the disastrous, disruptive flooding,
Dougherty Countys voter turnout was 31 percent,
higher than the statewide voter turnout of 25 per-
cent.
A state agency estimated that Albany and
Dougherty Countys roads, bridges and other public
facilities sustained at least $500 million in flood
damages. The estimate, prepared by the Southwest
Georgia Regional Development Center, didnt
include damage to approximately 8,500 dwellings.
The discovery of the body of a 41-year-old
Albany man, William Wallace, raised the disasters
death toll to 31.
The deadly Flood of 1994 was over. But the
poisonous effects of its witches brew had transformed
Southwest Georgia forever.
75
IN MEMORIAM
Left: The flood left its
legacy of destruction at St.
Marks Episcopal Church on
the comer of Cherry Laurel
and Holly Drive in Radium
Springs. But high water
marks show the deluge
stopped below the churchs
crucifix.
Right: Some of the
monuments in Riverside
Cemetery seemed to resist
the onslaught of
floodwaters. Water seemed
to stop miraculously directly
below the inscription
on the statue of the
kneeling Christ.
William Wallace, 41, of Albany, believed to
have drowned July 7 while trying to locate his moth-
er, who was actually safe in a shelter. His body, swept
into a drainage canal, was found July 19.
Ishkabah Tanatrous Linkhom, 28, of
Albany, last seen alive by friends July 7. His floating
body was discovered July 10.
Maureen Johnson, 71, of Dawson, died July
14 when her car hit a culvert on a closed, washed-out
road in Terrell County.
Pearlie Mae Brantley, 59, of Albany, was
found July 13 in her home, where she had drowned in
the flooded kitchen.
Kason Mallory, 4, and Shabazz Mallory, 2,
of Jersey City, N.J., were washed away in their familys
car by floodwaters of the Flint River in Albany July 8.
Kathy Rena Hurley, 28, and her son, John,
2, of Americus were swept underwater in their car
July 6.
Freddie Hawkins, 35, and his sons, Kedrick,
16, and Courtney, 8, were washed away in their
pickup truck in Americus July 6.
Hilton Howard, 42, of Smithville was
washed out of his car July 6 in Americus.
Douglas Kenneth Bassett, 32, of Macon was
washed off a train trestle July 6 as he tried to cross on
foot.
Chad Jones, 18, was riding an inner tube
July 6 with three friends on the rain-swollen
Towaliga River in Henry County.
Tomeka Woodham, 20, of Sumter County
was washed off the road in a car in Americus July 6.
Gloria Tatum, 28, of Americus was believed
to have washed out of a car July 6.
Idell Jackson, mid-60s, of Americus was
swept out of her house as she and her husband slept
76
July 6. He survived.
Oscar Brown, 84, of Americus was washed
out of his mobile home July 6.
Walter Davenport Stapleton III, 17, of
Sumter County was stringing telephone lines on
Lake Corinth when his boat overturned July 6.
Josephine Anderson, 60, of Americus was
washed out of her car when it was swept into a creek
July 6.
Eugene Marner, 40, his son, Kent, 12, both
of Cornettsville, Ind., and Roger Cornelius, 40, of
Washington, Ind., were washed away in a tractor-
trailer July 6 near Americus.
William Miller of Tifton was swept off
Georgia 87 in his car in Monroe County July 5. His
wife survived by clinging to a tree for more than nine
hours.
Marty Folsom, 35, of Bolingbroke and Lisa
Shepherd, 25, of McRae died July 5 when their pick-
up fell into a sinkhole that had opened in a sub-
merged parking lot in Macon.
Gloria Dixon, 16, of Rockdale County, was
swept away July 5 while trying to rescue a friends dog
from a flooded ditch.
Teresa Beyah, 31, of Griffin died July 5 in
Spalding County when her car hit a washed-out sec-
tion of road.
Jack Shriver, 40, of Fayette County died July
5 when he dived into Line Creek to tie a rope to a
bridge to keep it from being pulled away.
Richard Rodgers, 20, of Stone Mountain
died in a two-car crash on a rainy DeKalb County
road July 5.
John F. Peavy, 54, of Experiment, Ga., was
killed July 5 when his truck hydroplaned and collid-
ed with a wrecker.
77
THE AFTERMATH:
WAVES OF SUPPORT
Above: Armies of volunteers,
like these busloads sponsored
by Atlanta associations and
corporations, flooded into
Albany to help clean away the
residue of the 500-year flood.
Right: Kenneth Bruner of
Smithville, like other evacuees,
wondered how he would be
able to repair his home.
Far right: Ellen Thomason, a
volunteer from Atlanta,
stopped to photograph a sink-
hole that swallowed two houses
at the comer of Jefferies
Avenue and Martin Luther
King, Jr. Drive in Albany.

Emotions continued to run high after the Flint
River had retreated within its flood plain
boundaries. Thousands had lost jobs, homes,
belongings and loved ones. With so much gone,
it was time to find strength in each other, communi-
ty leaders said.
We have done well so far. Lets not let
down, urged The Albany Herald in a July 21 editori-
al. The rush of floodwater gave rise to adrenaline
78
that brought the community together so quickly and
solidly that state and federal officials could only mar-
vel at the resolve to overcome disaster.
There was an outpouring of neighbor help-
ing neighbor and citizens joining to help the commu-
nity as a whole. It would be an understatement to say
that we rose to the occasion. We found within our-
selves strength and compassion that, perhaps, we did-
nt know was there in such force.
There will be a let down. Tempers will run
short. But the key is still patience and understanding.
There will be groundless and emotional
charges of inequity in the rebuilding process. But we
cant let that happen. We cant let the ghost of
racism enter. We cant let geographical sectionalism
isolate neighborhoods. We cant let our hopes for the
future die, even the hopes we had before the flood.
Sodden, filthy and spent from battling the
500-year flood, Southwest Georgia needed such
words of encouragement. For the more the flood
receded, the more ruin and problems were revealed.
Officials with the Norfolk Southern railroad
said Albertos aftermath had cost the line roughly
$20 million in damages$7 million more than the
1993 flooding along the Mississippi River in the
CONTINUED
79
THE AFTERMATH CONTINUED
Above: A hearse teetered over
a sinkhole outside Lees
Funeral Home at the
intersection of Com Avenue
and Monroe Street
in Albany:
Right: Train service to many
areas in Southwest Georgia
was halted when flood waters
caused problems such as this
derailment outside Americus.
Far right: The Georgia Power
Plant at Riverbend, in
Putney, was overrun by water
July 10, as the Flint River
escaped its banks.
Midwest. This was one of the major disruptions
weve had in the last decade, said Tony Ingram,
Norfolk Southerns general manager for the eastern
region.
Further, the Flood of 1994 had claimed Baker
Countys venerable red-brick courthouse and dealt a
possibly mortal blow to the county seat of Newton.
Theres nothing here. Nowhere to go, no place to
rent. Theres no alternatives in Newton. People have
to leave to find alternative housing, said Elizabeth
Cook, a National Red Cross manager working in the
farming town.
Dangerous sinkholes were continuing to open
throughout Albany. By Saturday, July 23, more than
156 sinkholes were yawning, and officials warned
that many more were expected to appear as the water
continued to recede.
Two weeks after cresting in Albany, the Flint
still ran wild. Below the breached dam at what had
been Lake Worth in northern Dougherty County,
the brown waters churned with a current that made
the river nearly impassable, even with a powerboat.
80
The banks of the Flint resembled a war zone, with
debris strewn under bridges and huge gaps opening in
roads.
In a normal July, the river is slow and low,
but this aint no normal July, said Cpl. Jeff Swift of
the Department of Natural Resources.
Officers from the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation and the DNR, some using helicopters
or boats, continued searching for bodies and caskets
washed from Albany-area cemeteries. At GBI head-
quarters, thousands of soggy filing cards and 13
soaked ledgers were being dried and studied for clues
about the remains.
- The Dougherty County School Board voted
to allow double sessions at four schools at the start of
the 1994-95 school year to accommodate students
displaced by flooding. Unofficial estimates placed
damage to the systems facilities at $3 million to $5
million.
Without a doubt, the Flood of 94 had left a
CONTINUED
81
monumental mess. The task of cleaning up after the
disaster seemed overwhelming.
Fortunately, Southwest Georgia had help.
Waves of volunteers swept through flood-scoured
neighborhoods. During the weekend of July 23-24,
12,000 volunteers appeared in Albany, toting mops,
disinfectant and high-pressure cleaning equipment.
The helpers came from near and far, and many were
Mormons, Jehovahs Witnesses and others affiliated
with churches.
Wanda Harper, spokeswoman for the Witness
volunteer group, joked that the cleanup marked the
first time some homeowners were delighted to see
Jehovahs Witnesses knocking at their door.
WXIA TV/Channel 11 of Atlanta also par-
ticipated in the cleanup, helping the American Red
Cross organize the busloads of volunteers from that
city.
We will be able to go to every single home
that has asked for help so far, said Judy Bowles,
THE AFTERMATH CONTINUED
executive director of the A lb any - Doughe rty Clean
Community Commission. Well take Sheetrock out
of houses, take carpets out, take trash out to the curb.
Well do whatever people need us to do.
The smell in Sylvia Wileys kitchen, which
had been submerged and without electricity for near-
ly a week, almost sickened Susan Woodham, a 44-
year-old insurance office manager from the Atlanta
area. This is far worse than a fire, because it hap-
pened a lot more slowly, and everything is just
mush, she said. The smell is so bad that we have to
keep Walking in and out just to keep breathing with-
out getting sick.
Jim Hubert of 2414 Cherry Laurel Lane,
pushing a wheel-barrow of soggy Sheetrock toward
the curb, said flatly that he couldnt have cleaned his
house alone. I had about nine feet of water in there.
It smells like a septic tank, and there might as well
CONTINUED
83
have been one in there, he said.
The American Red Cross Disaster Services
trucks were a welcome and familiar sight in the dev-
astated neighborhoods. Volunteers delivered break-
fast, lunch and dinner to exhausted flood victims
cleaning out their homes.
The sooner it goes, the better, said flood
survivor Dee Brown as she hauled flood-tainted bed-
ding and furniture from her Whispering Pines home.
For the sentimental things, it hurts, but it happens.
You just have to go on. It could have been worse.
Officials predicted that 40,000 tons of debris
would have to be picked up from the Albany area
and an additional 3,300 tons from Lee County in the
aftermath of the deluge.
Once furnishings and other belongings were
removed, the drenched structures had to be stripped
to their studs and allowed to dry thoroughly before
repairs could begin. Placing fresh Sheetrock over
walls that had been improperly dried resulted in
warping, mildew and stenches, construction experts
warned. Most residences took weeks to dry; owners of
Right: One of a group of over
5,000 Mormon volunteers
prepared for a hard days work.
Far right: A FEMA assessor
met with a Lee County home-
owner to discuss the losses he
suffered in the flood.
Below: A construction worker at
the Raintree Condominiums
helped clear rubbish as post-flood
cleanup work got underway.
THE AFTERMATH CONTINUED
commercial and institutional buildings often
employed professional moisture control specialists
who used pumps and desiccating equipment to speed
the drying process.
Meanwhile, displaced residentssome of
whom had no homes to return tosearched franti-
cally for lodgings. Ive gone through every apart-
ment complex and Realtor in the phone book, said
Annette Dawson, 25. I dont have any kids. Its just
me and my boyfriend. We both have jobs, but they
all say there is nothing available.
Mobile homes designed to serve as temporary
housing were being transported to Albany by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency; 504 trail-
ers had been authorized for South Georgia applicants
and the first occupants moved in July 25. As soon as
they said we could sign up for housing and get out of
the shelter, I was there, said Roberta Ware as she
prepared to move into one of the first units to arrive
in Albany.
CONTINUED
85
THE AFTERMATH CONTINUED
FEMA also announced plans to buy out build-
ings and homes in flood-prone areas. It could involve
moving an entire community or individual houses,
explained FEMA spokesman Jack Glover.
That option was worthy of serious considera-
tion, contended State Sen. Mark Taylor, who1 said he
believed hard-hit flood-damaged homes on South
Albanys flood plain should be destroyed and their res-
idents relocated. I hope from a personal perspective
that we will not rebuild, he said. Id like to see this
area used for beautification and recreation, with more
housing outside the flood plain.
City Commissioner Arthur Williams, however,
who represented part of the flood-damaged area,
expressed strong opposition to relocating his con-
stituents. If you can rebuild a house on the ocean
and you can build a house on the lake, that proves
that South Albany shouldnt be written off, he said.
Engineers meanwhile, had concluded that no
damor group of damscould have contained the
Flint when it burst from its banks in July 1994. The
two dams situated on the river were not designed to
control flooding, although Marcus Waters, resource
manager for the Crisp County Commission, tried to
hold some of it at the Blackshear dam. We dropped
the lake almost six feet and then it started rising back
up, even with all 14 flood-gates open, he said. But
even if we had been able to completely empty the
lake in time, at peak flow, Lake Blackshear would
have filled up in six hours.
He estimated that 1.5 million gallons of the
Flint River was pouring into the 8,700-acre lake every
second during the flood.
With a flood of this magnitude, it over-
whelmed everything in its pathdams, levees, what-
ever, added Rob Holland, a spokesman for the Army
Corps of Engineers. The dams didnt make a dimes
CONTINUED
Arthur Washington, hard at work helping
friends at a floothwrecked home on
Shelby Lane, paused to wipe sweat from
his face before wrestling a damaged water
heater from the building.
87
PMMHM
THE AFTERMATH CONTINUED
Left: The spirit of the
Monroe High Schools mas-
cot, the Golden Tornado,
seemed to hover furiously
over the damage caused by
the flood to the schools
gym.
Right: A discarded refriger-
ator offered a poignant
glimpse of what life had
been like at a home on 11th
Avenue.
Right: A young volunteer
helped clean up school materi-
als at flooded Coachman Park
Elementary School.
Below right: Vemell Reid, 67,
washed what was left of her
belongings outside her flooded
Coachman Park home where
she has lived for 37 years.
W-i

Ir9*


>
f-

worth of difference. You just had so much water.
The Great Flood of 1994. To some, it was a
force of nature, part of the cycle of life and death.
Others viewed it as an act of God, inexplicable to
humans, but part of a divine plan. But for all who
were touched by the rising waters, the disaster offered
an opportunity for rebirth:
The Flood of 1994 is a give and take of
Mother Nature that will give us a chance to know
what is within ourselves, said The Albany Herald in
its July 21, 1994 editorial. We must realize recovery
will take months, even years. We are all in this
together.
We were in it together when Albanys great-
est natural disaster until now struck in the predawn
darkness of Feb. 10, 1940the 500 mph winds of the
tornado that cut a path three blocks wide and one
mile long through the city, destroying nearly every
structure in the business section and an untold num-
ber of houses.
Hundreds were made homeless. Gov. E.D.
Rivers sent National Guardsmen. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt wired his sympathy and directed federal
agencies to render all aid possible.
Albany recovered. In fact, some say that the
tornado fostered such a commitment to recover that
it was the beginning of the vibrant growth the city
enjoyed through the next four decades. It could hap-
pen again.
And who knows? The flood, with all of its
terror and tragedy, could yet be another great catalyst
that propels the city into another period of commit-
ment and growth.
RISING WATERS RAISE THE DEAD
The catastrophic Great Flood of 1994 literally raised the dead. For
when the normally quiet Flint River thrust itself from its banks and
churned across its 500-year--flood plain, it unearthed more than 400 caskets,
vaults and bodies from gravesites in two Albany cemeteries, towing some of
them downriver.
It was only the second time in U.S. history that this has hap-
pened, said Bucky Brookshier, Dougherty Countys coroner. The other
time was in Hardin, Mo., where over 1,200 caskets were displaced after the
floods in the Midwest in 1993.
During the height of the flooding, four to 12 feet of water swirled
over tombstones at Oakview and Riverside Cemeteries, where some of
Albanys first settlers were buried.
The flood also surged into other cemeteries in Albany and surround-
ing communities. But aerial reconnaissance showed no graves were
unearthed at Roselawn Cemetery in Dougherty County, which was also
submerged. And officials in Hawkinsville and Mitchell County, alerted by
events in Albanys riverside burial grounds, had time to sandbag gravesites
and mark those at risk of being expelled by high water. Experts from the
team that helped recover and identify Albany remains also assisted other
Southwest Georgia communities in which graves were disturbed.
In the low-lying Albany cemeteries, air-filled caskets acted like bas-
ketballs or beachballs underwater; water pressure shot some as high as six
feet into the air, witnesses reported.
A posse quickly organized to round up the remains. Marines, the
National Guard, Albany Fire Department personnel and Albany
Recreation and Parks Department workers, with help from volunteers, used
boats to reach floating caskets, which were then tied to trees to prevent
them from continuing downriver.
The main thing were trying to do is stabilize the casket and
retrieve any remains that are exposed, explained Recreation and Parks
employee Joel Abernathy early in the recovery efforts.
During the first two days of rescue operations, 204 caskets and bod-
ies were retrieved, Brookshier said. Work continued day and night, as
authorities searched for remains through flooded streets, under moss-
canopied trees and along the rampaging river as far south as Newton. The
task was grueling. Recovery workers kept a lookout for displaced snakes,
floating clumps of fire ants and submerged objects that could tear the hulls
off rescue boats.
The macabre drama attracted the attention of national media, and
scenes of coffins bobbing in the flood water became one of the enduring
images of the 500-year flood. Once recovered, the remains were taken to an
emergency morgue at the Exchange Club Fairgrounds, where they were
placed in refrigerated units.
CONTINUED
90
9ll
A flotilla of quiet souk drifted
in the stream ... workers
secured them to trees or fences
to stabilize them ... other crews
transported them to an
identification center.
RISING WATERS
RAISE THE DEAD
CONTINUED
By July 19, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, charged with recovery and identifica-
tion of bodies after any disaster, had stepped in.
Right now, this is our top priority, said GBI
Director Buddy Nix, noting searchers used heli-
copters, vehicles and boats as well as foot searches to
locate remains.
The state law enforcement agency received
assistance from the Department of Natural Resources
and a federal disaster team from the National
Medical Disaster System.
Identification was hindered, however,
because six feet of flood water covered cemetery
records. The documents had to be salvaged and
taken to the state crime lab, where they were dried
and entered into a computer.
Area and former residents reacted emotional-
ly to the news that the Flint River had plundered
gravesites. Ive got people calling from Massachusetts
wanting to know if their momma is in the ground,
said Brockey Brock, director of the Albany
Recreation and Parks Department, which oversees
the cemeteries. Some people are going crazy.
Anytime any cemetery has a problem, it
affects everybody, said Norman Chess, owner of
Floral Memory Gardens in Albany and a board mem-
ber of the Georgia Cemetery Association.
Authorities assured anxious residents that the
majority of the approximately 20,000 graves in the
cemeteries were not disturbed. The flooding was
indiscriminate, Brookshier said. Five or six were
not bothered, then it took one, then skipped seven
and then took a whole row. We cant explain nature.
But as river water slowly drained from the 110
92
acres of flooded burial grounds, authorities made an
unwelcome discovery. The spongy soil was collapsing
into sinkholes, which threatened graves that had sur-
vived the floodwaters. One sinkhole is 150 feet long
and 100 feet wide and has an active artesian well in
it, Brookshier said. As the mouth of the hole
widened, brick-covered graves from the turn of the
century were uncovered.
The coroner said that soggy ground and a
quicksand effect hampered workers using heavy
equipment to stabilize sites. We want to make the
ground stable for reinterment.
Archaeologists, forensic pathologists, anthro-
pologists and forensic dentists, along with the
National Medical Disaster System (D-Mort team)
and the GBI, worked on identification of remains at
the temporary morgue facility, Brookshier continued.
Other assistance was provided by volunteers from
members of the Georgia Funeral Directors
Association, the Georgia Practitioners Association
and other agencies. A cemetery information center
to assist families was established, with pastors and
family members called on to help identify remains,
most of which were expected to be placed in new
caskets and reburied. Were learning as we go
through this, Brookshier said. Hopefully, we can
identify everyone. But some of these sites were so old
that accurate records were not kept, and members of
those families may no longer be in the area.
For that reason, he said, authorities set aside
an area for unknowns and began plans for a dedica-
tion service for all flood victims of 1994 once the
burial grounds were revitalized.
93

PAGE ONE HEADLINES FROM
After flood waters ebbed, Lake Blackshear offered this desolate sight
of exposed stumps and a grounded boat in front of the Steamboat
Restaurant on Highway 280 west of Cordele.
July 4: Alberto limps ashore, causing little damage
July 5: Cuthbert soaked by flash flooding
Storm fizzles out plan for fireworks
July 6: Southwest Georgia braces for floods
Kinchafoonee, Flint to rise over banks in
coming days
Five are killed, hundreds homeless from state
flooding
More heavy rain in forecast
July 7: City warns 14,000: Clear out
Waters kill nine in Sumter County
Floods wreck homes, close several roads
Death toll on rise statewide
Evacuations leave thousands homeless in
middle Georgia
Cattle buyer among dead in Sumter
Weak winds blamed for stalled storm
July 8: Flint waters inundate area
All roads shut down in south Lee
4 counties declared national disaster
Areas downstream brace for destructive waters
July 9: The 500'year flood washes over Albany
East Albany left isolated from city
Raging river separates residents from families,
favorite hangouts
Water hits an empty Newton
Early evacuations leave downtown area deserted
Fears rising as fast as the water in Bainbridge
July 10: Dam erodes, danger minimal
Hundreds of coffins unearthed
Flint River continues rise, hits 43.7 feet
Volunteers weathering swell of homeless
The loss doesnt stop them from helping
Spirit of cooperation fights floodwaters in Baker
County
July 11: Flint Rivers fury rolls on
Newton awaits the worst
Floods toll rises in Albany
Baconton residents thirst for water -
and attention
Lee County residents return, assess damage
July 12: High water to be here for days
Officials say recovery may be slow and painful
More than 1,000 flood into FEMA disaster relief
office
East Albany will get chance at aid when center
is set up there
Roundabout route links two Albanys
Police patrols take over in Bainbridge
July 13: President to view destruction
Miller, others to join Clinton in inspection
Morale drops fast at shelters
Flooded-out residents longing to return home
Bainbridge officials hope damage is light
We prepared for the worst but... it looks like
the worst wont come
Roundabout east-west route brings traffic to
small towns
July 14: Clinton pledges $65.5 million
President views areas terrible devastation
Clinton reviews mixed
Many at FEMA center more worried about help
than presidents visit
94
THE ALBANY HERALD DURING THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1994
Albany nearing recovery phase
Sinkholes become problem as water begins
receding
Coffin unearthing has been problem for years
July 15: Liberty Bypass reopens as floodwaters recede
Police scale back hours of curfew
Albany man mourns flood death of wife'
Portraits of flood damage
Four Lee residents begin the aftermath
FEMA opens 3rd aid center
Albany Tech site of newest station
July 16: Officials move to curb profiteers
Scam artists targeted by city, state
Waters creating sinkholes
Flood victims complaining of poor treatment
Primaries still set for Tuesday
Flooding has forced officials to combine some
voting precincts
July 17: The long, hard cleanup begins
Rebuilding will be a challenge in itself
Flood of 94 the worst - not the first
Rush for housing creates long waiting lists,
frustration
Day by anguishing day, from Alberto to The
Flood of 1994
July 18: Up to 7,000 may stay homeless
Repairs needed for homes of another 12,000
New precincts to be used for state primaries
Tuesday
Mount Zion finds home at temple
July 19: Bridge footings being checked for problems
Absentee voting higher for primary
Casket reburying to be a slow process
ASC flood damages may reach $50 million
July 20: Damage estimate exceeds $500 million
July 21: Emergency mobile homes begin arriving in
Albany
Floods cost railroad almost $20 million
July 22: Flood claims Baker courthouse
88-year-old facility wont be repaired
Waters leave Newton like ghost town
The very symbol of Baker County
Flood shelter windows victim of drive-by
shooting
July 23: A caring army arrives to help
Thousands volunteer for cleanup
Effort intensifies to identify caskets
July 24: The kindness of strangers ...
Waves of volunteers flood city to aid
homeowners
Tackling the cleanup with generosity, grit
July 25: Volunteer: Everybody works as one
Grant to employ kids in cleanup
July 26: County relaxes rules on trailers
Permit process streamlined
Schools doubling up for fall
40,000 tons of debris must be picked up
July 27: City selects sites for trailers
Some residents angry their neighborhood was
chosen
Floods ebb leaves tide of anxiety
Con man uses disaster to swindle money, police
say
July 28: Flood-relief vouchers spurring Albanys economy
Many businesses back to normal
Many complaints, little wrongdoing
July 29: South Albany home rebuilding debated
State Sen. Taylor says area should be beautified;
city commissioner says rebuild
Elders aims at homes for flood victims
July 30: FEMA program will buy out flooded homes
Reappraisals can help avoid flood laws
July 31: Cleanup-related injuries on the rise
Volunteers go extra mile with a smile
95
DIVIDED BY WATER,
UNITED IN CRISIS
Above: Two Mormon volunteers maintain high spirits during their
days of hard work helping flood victims in the Albany area.
Right: 5,000 Mormons came to Albany on July 23,
set up a tent city at the YMCA Sports Complex, then gathered their
tools and went door-to-door through flood-ravaged neighborhoods
offering help to residents.
The Flood of 1994 was an equal opportunity
destroyer. Rising waters Breached the boundaries of
age, race, gender, religion and socio-economic class.
Fittingly, the volunteers who helped battle the deluge
broke the same boundaries.
This has truly been a community effort, said
Jackie Wright, a Red Cross public information officer
with the national Disaster Relief Services team in
Albany.
When the waves of calamity began to break,
Albanys corporate citizens brought in truckloads of
food, clothing and other goods and donated substan-
tial sums of money. Plantation owners delivered sup-
plies to shelters and raised hundreds of thousands of
dollars for immediate flood relief. Small businesses
donated services, equipment, expertise and money.
Our city and county officials and employees
have worked tirelessly. The Red Cross and National
Guard have performed in a professional manner, said
Donald M. Kea, senior minister at First United
Methodist Church in a letter to the editor published
in The Albany Herald on July 21. Our churches and
schools have opened their doors as shelters and relief
stations, staffed by a multitude of volunteers. Racial
and class barriers have broken, strangers have helped
strangers, and thousands of acts of kindness have been
shared.
Individuals from all walks of life pitched in:
Housewives delivered homemade soup to shelters,
Boy Scouts helped fill sandbags, men took their fish-
ing boats into raging waters to rescue stranded people
and abandoned pets. Medical institutions, the mili-
tary, churches, civic organizations and youth groups
sent cash, personnel, supplies and equipment. By the
end of July, millions of dollars had poured into
Southwest Georgia to aid victims of the flood.
At the Red Cross alone, thousands of volun-
teers, some from as far away as Hawaii and Canada,
came to Albany for 21-day stints of service; in addi-
tion more than 400 volunteers from the area helped
in the recovery effort. The organization spent $6.6
million in Albany during the disaster, which they had
categorized as a Level 5 catastrophe, comparable to
the devastation from Hurricane Andrew.
But not everyone could send money ... and
many people wanted to do more than simply write a
check. Thousands of individuals came from near and
far. Whole communities of Mormons, Jehovahs
Witnesses and Mennonites pitched tents, unloaded
their cleaning supplies, and went door-to-door help-
ing families remove filthy flood debris from their
homes. An Atlanta television station orchestrated a
massive cleanup effort, sponsoring busloads of volun-
teers. Corporations also sent help by the busloads.
The executive director of the local chapter of
the Red Cross, Debbie Blanton, had particular praise
for local volunteers who responded heroically dur-
ing the first 72 hours of the crisis. Many, like her, had
lost their own homes and belongings to the flood. Its
one of those things, she said. Youre thankful you
have life and family. Were all in this together. Well
rebuild and start over again.
In a letter to the editor published in The
Albany Herald on July 21, Sandra P. Moran of Albany
wrote: In the midst of a truly major crisis, the gov-
erning bodies and citizens of our community were
equal in the task. I do not believe any community,
regardless of its wealth or sophistication, could have
reacted better. I am very proud to be an Albanian.
96