Teams of building inspectors will fan out across Cobb County within the next week to measure damage to hundreds of flooded homes.
In their wake they will leave orange spray-paint marks on the curb indicating that a house has been checked off the list.
"We are trying to get out in front of it," said Bill Higgins, Cobb County's storm water manager. "People can't get back into their homes to rebuild until they have an assessment."
Eight new teams started work Friday and will continue until next Friday. Higgins hopes to finish assessing the roughly 680 flood-damaged homes in unincorporated Cobb County by next Friday.
"Cobb County is actively going out and doing assessments, which is incredible in and of itself," said Terri Turner, chairman of the board of directors of the Georgia Association of Floodplain Management. Other governments wait for a homeowner to ask for a building permit before they do a damage assessment, Turner said.
Higgins knew Cobb County would need help because he only had about 10 people for the job.
Turner rounded up a group of 28 volunteers from her organization who will work in shifts throughout the week in Cobb.
A group of assessors, half of them volunteers, trained in Cobb on Thursday to learn the Federal Emergency Management Agency's assessment software and review the various sections of a house they will need to inspect when they estimate damage.
In Austell, there are two inspectors to check out 696 flooded homes, Mayor Joe Jerkins said.
The retired president of Duluth-based engineering firm Keck & Wood Inc. has volunteered to accompany Austell's two inspectors starting next week to help make rulings on homes they are unsure about, the company said.
Austell is performing inspections when a homeowner makes a request, Jerkins said. "We don't have the staff Cobb County does," Jerkins said.
Assessors will use FEMA's Residential Substantial Damage Estimator software to calculate the percent of damage to the home's market value.
If assessors find that damage adds up to more than 50 percent of the value of the home, the owner must rebuild according to Cobb County's flood plain ordinance, Higgins said.
The 50 percent damage total represents cumulative damage over the past 10 years. That means that if a home were damaged 25 percent in this year's flood and 26 percent in a flood four years ago, it would exceed 50 percent.
To rebuild, the owner would then have to make sure to raise the house at least three feet above the 100-year flood line.
"It's very expensive to do," Higgins said.
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