Missing man found safe in Cobb County

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A missing man that Cobb County authorities feared had perished in Monday's floodwaters has been found safe, police said Wednesday.

Witnesses had told police they saw the man, whose name has not been released, walking toward a flooded area of the golf course at the Atlanta Country Club, just off Columns Drive near the Chattahoochee River.

Police said the man was trying to find his parents, who lived in the area where dozens of homes had been evacuated.

The man's parents reported him missing at noon Tuesday, and after an air and ground search, rescue teams found the man's Volvo near where he was last seen, but not the missing man.

Cobb police Sgt. Dana Pierce said the man called police overnight.

"He said he did not know he was the subject of the search," Pierce said. "He is safe and sound."

Pierce said that on Monday, the man "realized at some point that he was not going to be able to cross that swift water, so he returned to his vehicle, which was nearby."

"In the meantime, he had lost his keys and his cellphone," Pierce said. "He got a ride to the Civic Center, where we were housing people who were displaced."

From there, the man called his wife, who came and took him home.

"We're relieved that he is safe," Pierce said.