17 years after devastating 2009 flood, Austell residents remember what was lost – WSB-TV

17 years after devastating 2009 flood, Austell residents remember what was lost  WSB-TV

It has been 17 years since the historic 2009 flood devastated parts of metro Atlanta, bringing as much as 21 inches of rain in 24 hours. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Homes and businesses were overtaken by water, leaving some residents with a choice: rebuild or move. “The total entire deck was under water and the water was up to these slats right here at the top. There was only one foot of slat that you could observe.

Otherwise it was all gone,” Robinson said. “When they say flash flood, it was a flash flood. It happened so fast,” a teacher recalled. Teachers worked to get every child to safety as floodwaters rushed through the school. The damage to the building was so severe that the county ultimately demolished it. A new Clarkdale Elementary School opened in 2012 on higher ground, more than a decade after the flood changed the community.