The aftermath of destructive waters has left thousands homeless in the south Cobb County city of Austell this week.

Dumpsters and trash and soggy family possessions sit on the front lawns on street after street.

Several creeks, such as Sweetwater Creek and Noses Creek, merge in this town of about 7,000. But they swelled to biblical proportions this week, leaving a silty mess in their wake.

More than 2,000 people in Austell have lost their homes or face substantial home damage as a result of Monday’s deluge, Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens said.

Cobb County’s Emergency Management Agency has estimated that up to 40 percent of the homes in Austell were ruined or significantly damaged, Olens said. Powder Springs could also face significant damage, Olens said.

“This is an historic flood,” he said.

Many of the displaced residents have found shelter with friends and family, and about 215 people from flood-affected areas stayed at the American Red Cross shelter at Cobb Civic Center on Wednesday night. The shelter is one of several the Red Cross has been operating in the metro area.

On Thursday, dust covered the roads and turned the kudzu a sandy beige.

Earlier this week, the floodwaters poured over bridges in Austell, leaving them unstable. The city’s Legion Park looked like a lake, and the gazebo was under water. Cars in a sales lot were submerged and thrown together like pickup sticks, Austell City Clerk Carolyn Duncan said.

“Everything is really topsy-turvy right now,” Duncan said.

The floodwaters rose higher than what’s known as a 100-year flood.

“Oh yeah. We’re talking of the millennium,” Duncan said. “It’s very devastating.”

The U.S. Geological Survey called it a 500-year flood.

Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins has been working round the clock surveying the damage and was directing traffic Thursday afternoon, Duncan said.

Some roads leading to the center of town were reopened Thursday.

The bridge over Sweetwater Creek about a half-mile north of town on the way to Powder Springs still was closed.

“This is analogous to us as Katrina was to New Orleans,” Duncan said.

About a mile and a half from downtown Austell, Willie Smith, a retired Army master sergeant who now works as a civilian at Fort McPherson, spent Thursday removing ruined furniture and sheet rock from his house in the Mulberry Creek subdivision in Austell.

Several co-workers from Fort McPherson as well as neighbors helped him.

Water rose to the second floor and caused his ceiling to collapse.

All Smith saved was some clothes, three TVs and a computer. He lost all his furniture and sentimental things like photos of his deceased wife and pictures he wanted his 8-year-old daughter to have, such as her first Mother’s Day and first Father’s Day, said Smith.

He says his house is a total loss. “We’d have to gut out the entire house to fix it, and you don’t know what you’re up against, like mold and stuff.”

And, of course, the damage extends beyond homes.

Divers were looking in the water under the bridge on Austell Powder Springs Road to survey damage of the structure.

Destruction spread outside the city limits, too. The scene on Wesley Drive in unincorporated Cobb County near Austell on Thursday was messy. Muddy tree leaves marked the floodwater line.

Stacey Cressy, 34, and her husband were retrieving belongings from their split-level home, where they’ve lived for six years, with the help of friends.

The floodwaters had reached the home’s third level. The couple lost all of their furniture, computers, TV and new washing machine, as well as other appliances. The water receded late Wednesday night, and Thursday was the first day that Cressy and her neighbors were able to get back into their homes.

While Cressy and her family got out of the house in time on Monday, they had to leave the family pets behind.

On Thursday, a friend found Squirt, the family turtle, who survived. “My daughter is going to be so happy to see him,” Cressy said of her 6-year-old.

Earlier in the week, Cressy’s husband, Sean, paddled to the house in a canoe to rescue the family’s two cats, left in an upstairs bathroom.

The fate of pets has been a concern. Tom Flynn, field operations manager of the Cobb County animal shelter, said that as of Thursday, the shelter is holding 14 cats and 54 dogs until people who have been affected by the flooding can reclaim them.

The Cressys’ home and others on Wesley flooded four years ago. It’s on the same street as Clarkdale Elementary School, which was almost submerged by the flood this week.

“I’m still in debt from the flood before,” said Stacey Cressy, who has no flood insurance. “I can’t do this again.”

Her neighbor across the street, Angie Olvey, was also cleaning her house. She said that the insurance company told her that unless Cobb County changes the flood classification of this area, the company will not condemn the homes. “They will force us to rebuild,” said Olvey, a 23-year resident of the street.

Cressy said, “How many people do we have to tell? We don’t want to do this anymore.”