Flooding is being blamed for the death of a man in Gordon County, where residents were bracing for even more rain Monday.

Investigators believe 64-year-old George Treadaway drove around barricades with the road flooded and drifted into the water Saturday night, Sheriff Mitch Ralston told Channel 2 Action News. Divers searched the area Sunday and located the car with Treadaway still behind the wheel.

Monday morning, the car was pulled from the water, and Treadaway was declared dead, the county’s deputy coroner said. Ralston said the man’s death was a tragic warning of what can happen following periods of heavy rain.

“You don’t want to give up, and we didn’t,” Ralston said. “But there’s a lot of people who risk their lives trying to recover a body, and we know there’s more rain coming.”

In a separate drowning incident, a Calhoun man died when the boat he was in flipped on a private lake, Bo Nicholson, the deputy coroner, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Divers located the body of Robert John Murray, 38, shortly before noon Monday, Nicholson said.

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In this file photo from October 2024, Atlanta Braves outfielder Jorge Soler and teammates react after losing to the San Diego Padres 5-4 in San Diego. The Braves and Soler, who now plays for the Los Angeles Angels, face a lawsuit by a fan injured at a 2021 World Series game at Truist Park in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com