Stories from the storm

By Staff

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta: Councilman’s roof smashed by TV personality’s tree

Atlanta City Councilman Ceasar Mitchell is philosophical about the mammoth oak tree that fell through the roof of his house on Queen Street in West End early Saturday.

“I’d much rather have a tree lodged in my roof than have to deal with the flooding so many people are experiencing,” Mitchell said.

The nearly hundred-year-old house remained “all tarped up” Tuesday, awaiting a tree service to remove the oak. The tree fell from the yard of his neighbor, WSB-TV’s Jocelyn Dorsey.

“It is my tree,” said Dorsey, director of editorials and public affairs and host of the show “People 2 People” on WSB.

“It’s probably 100-150 years old. It was probably 75 feet tall,” she said. “It just demolished his roof.”

Mitchell was not at home when the tree fell.

— TOM SABULIS

Gwinnett County: They’re usually bailing other people out

Statewide Tree & Landscape Inc. is used to being first responders during emergencies.

But the Lilburn tree-hauling business found itself dealing with its own crisis as water flooded more than a dozen trucks, seven chippers and three Bobcats, owner Jim Lacey said.

“It was crazy, man, a crazy amount of water,” Lacey said, pointing to a trailer that had floated across the parking lot into a creek. “Every piece of equipment we own was in water.”

Meanwhile, the phones rang incessantly. “We were in dire straits ourselves, so we couldn’t respond,” he said.

The water, which Lacey said was high enough to cover the engines of the Isuzu trucks, caused about $300,000 in damage. On Tuesday the business had just one truck in operation.

“We’re sitting ducks, so to speak,” Lacey said.

—SHANE BLATT

Cobb County: "I can’t believe how good people are"

Elsy Arriaga was cleaning out her closets two weeks ago and asked her family, “What will we do with all this stuff?”

On Tuesday morning they found the answer, 50 miles from their Loganville home.

Arriaga, her two sisters and their cousin filled a Dodge Caravan with old clothes, shoes, sleeping bags and food. Then they drove to the Cobb Civic Center in Marietta, which sheltered about 200 people Monday night.

As evacuees trickled out Tuesday, the four women offered them whatever they wanted.

“We believe in spreading God’s love,” said sister Emelina Brooks, who brought along her 9-month-old son, Elijah. “And we definitely have too much stuff.”

The first people to benefit were Matthew and Cindy Herron of Austell and their three kids.

“I can’t believe how good people are when stuff like this happens,” Matthew Herron said.

—RALPH ELLIS

Paulding County: "Everything but the room in the attic"

Buckled hardwood floors, damaged walls and mud lines showed how high the water rose in the Paulding County home.

“We’ve lost everything but the room in the attic,” said Melissa Pelter, who was rescued from the house with her husband and daughter.

The failure of a nearby dam flooded the Pelters’ home and others in the Carrington Lakes subdivision, near the Douglas County line. On Tuesday, friends and neighbors helped families salvage what was left.

Furniture and personal items that could be saved were scattered around the front yard of the Pelters, who will have to rent a home until the damage is repaired. Their homeowner’s insurance won’t cover the loss.

“You can replace all of this junk,” said Melanie Bearden, Pelter’s sister. “They’re OK, and that’s what matters.”

— ALEXIS STEVENS

DeKalb County: Commissioner runs into a flood of questions

DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May woke up early Monday and discovered just how bad his week was going to be.

His mother-in-law had looked outside and seen flooding in the yard. May headed downstairs to have a look, but he didn’t have to go far. Water had swallowed the bottom steps of his stairway.

“I woke up at about 7 o’clock in the morning to five feet of water in my house,” he said.

Firefighters used a ladder to reach a second-floor bedroom and rescue May, his wife, his mother-in-law and his two little girls — one 4 months old and the other 2 years old.

May said he counted about 20 other flooded homes in his Lithonia-area neighborhood.

May did not have flood insurance. “No. I didn’t — me nor many of the other people,” he said, “because we were told we were not in the flood plain.”

May is organizing an emergency meeting for tonight for other people who have flood damage; representatives of aid organzations and state and county government agencies will be there.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the county’s Lou Walker Senior Center, 2538 Panola Road, near Lithonia.

— TY TAGAMI

Clayton County: School crews patrolled roads at 3 a.m.

Clayton County kept its schools open Tuesday when other major metro school systems took a “rain day.”

Schools spokesman Charles White said the district had crews out at 8 p.m. Monday and at 3 a.m. Tuesday checking road conditions.

“They wanted to make sure there was no water across the roads, no flooding, ponding or trees down,” White said.

The county sounded the all-clear at 4 a.m.

Most of the other major systems — including Gwinnett, Cobb and Atlanta — announced their Tuesday closings late Monday afternoon. White said there were no reports on Tuesday of an unusual number of students who are late or absent in Clayton.

— NANCY BADERTSCHER

Gwinnett County: Woman’s 40,000 bees perish in Lilburn flood

For the Izzo family, Monday’s deluge destroyed more than the family car, sewing room and backyard clubhouse.

The storm had the added sting of washing away 40,000 honeybees — and their queen.

“I had a great hive,” said homeowner Pattie Izzo, a beekeeper for the past two years. “My flower garden was beautiful. The bees were doing everything they were supposed to do.”

The Izzos, who live in the Shadow Lake subdivision near Lilburn, left their home about 11 p.m. Monday after watching the water rise throughout the day.

“I looked down at the basement steps and saw water,” Izzo said. “I got scared.”

So she grabbed her two children, two dogs, cat and sleeping bags and headed to a friend’s house. Tuesday, the family was in cleanup mode, piling up quilts, tools, bicycles and furniture along on the driveway.

“It’s only stuff,” Izzo said. “My kids are OK. My husband is OK. God is good.”

As for the bees, Izzo said she will don her hood and try to find them. But she’s not optimistic about the wing-clipped queen.

“I’m sure the queen has perished,” she said.

— SHANE BLATT

Cut off in Cobb County, but making the best of it

Holly Pasierv, who lives off Trickum Road in northeast Cobb County, seemed resolutely cheerful as she watched crews claw away at Netherstone Drive — even though she’s trapped. A normally placid creek flowing thru a culvert roared over the street carrying trees and other debris; the street collapsed about 1:30 Sunday afternoon.

That knocked out water service and isolated several blocks in the Waterford subdivision.

Pasierv says she plans to cope by “collecting as much bottled water as I can.” A neighbor on the other side of the collapse will let her use a car so she’ll be able to get to the store and other places she needs to go.

“We’re lucky, we have electricity and gas, and we didn’t get water in our home,” she said

— MARK WOOLSEY

Cherokee County: They rescue people and horses, too

Canton firefighters and police officers had to cut through the roof of a barn Monday to rescue two horses trapped in their stalls.

The rescuers went down into the barn, authorities said, removed debris and hay, forced open the barn doors and coaxed the horses out through five or six feet of water.

Also on Monday, police and fire crews also rescued eight people trapped on the second floor of a Days Inn hotel, Assistant Fire Chief Donnie Arp said.

The hotel backs up to a creek that feeds into the Etowah River. Waters quickly flooded the first floor, trapping a group that included small children on the second floor, taking them out using all-terrain vehicles, Arp said.

Rescuers drove through the water on ATVs, gave everyone a life jacket and took them to safety, he said.

— LAURA BERRIOS