FORT OGLETHORPE — Residents of The Crossings returned to their homes Wednesday around noon to bicycles, inflatable unicorns and Walmart buggies strewn about the grass and parking lot. The floodwater had receded, and people were assessing the damage done.
The first floor units of all but three buildings in the complex were flooded, said Dustin Harden, who lives in a first floor unit of one of the unaffected buildings in the Northwest Georgia apartment complex.
“We ain’t got power, but the rest of them, they’ve got water damage,” Harden said. “Every single one of them.”
Harden and his family stayed as long as they could, warning neighbors and helping move cars, but when the water reached the top porch step, he, his wife, Chancy McKinney, and their two school-age daughters evacuated to spend the night at a friend’s house.
“They had johnboats out here. They were pulling people on life rafts,” McKinney said. “There was birds, there was bunnies, there was dogs, cats, people, babies.”
Harden said neighbors had told stories of water touching the tops of beds and couches floating, all in what seemed like an instant after the storm had started.
When the rain first started, McKinney was out playing in it with the kids, not thinking anything of it, she said, but within the hour, the water had risen to a scary level.
The complex floods frequently, McKinney and Harden said, but never anything quite like what they saw Tuesday. Management had been telling residents that there were plans to dig a large ditch to catch the water before it reaches the apartments, but the project had never been started.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this,” McKinney said.
“It happened fast,” Harden followed. “If you’re not prepared, it’s definitely a lot … If it was like Texas, where they only had like 30 minutes, if that was us, we’d have been dead.”
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A neighbor, Brenda Crouch, had her apartment flood while she was shopping at Hamilton Place. She wouldn’t have had a clue if a friend from the complex hadn’t called her to tell her what was going on.
“The first time I’d been out with a friend and stuff in a long time,” Crouch said. “Since my husband passed away, I don’t get out much. So, I did go, and I left my dog at home.”
Crouch said she went became upset after hearing what was happening at home, but it took almost two hours to get from Gunbarrel Road back to The Crossings, a drive that should only take about 20 minutes.
“I was a nervous wreck the whole time we got here,” Crouch said, “but we got him, and I got my husband’s ashes.”
Crouch is thankful she has the things that are near and dear to her heart, but there is a lot of uncertainty now, she said. She and her friends are working to get their hotel room paid for since she can’t stay at the shelter with her miniature poodle, Bear.
“I told them yesterday, I said this: ‘If somebody don’t get my dog, if something happens to my dog, you might as well bury me with him, I’m telling you.’ That’s my heart.”
Crouch was sorting through her clothes and trying to figure out how to get her late daughter’s grandfather clock out of the apartment in case the flooding comes back. She said word around the apartments was that the power is going to be out for a couple of weeks, and now she and all her friends are trying to figure out what to do with food they have stored in their freezers.
People were milling about, trying to find their essentials before more rain came their way.
“All I ask is that people just pray for us,” Crouch said, tearing up. “And thank you in advance.”
THE FLOOD
Flooding in Northwest Georgia forced residents of two apartment complexes to evacuate their homes Tuesday, according to a press release from Catoosa County spokesperson John Pless.
First-floor apartments at The Crossings on Fant Drive were flooded with waist-deep water, and about 80 people were evacuated by swift water teams from the Catoosa and Walker County fire departments. Swift water teams also rescued 35 people from Fountain Brooks apartments on Cross Street.
(READ MORE: Flooding causes problems, evacuations, school closings in Chattanooga area)
The evacuees were taken to temporary shelters at the Constitution Hall and Westside voting precincts, and an overnight shelter was set up by the Northwest Georgia chapter of the American Red Cross at the Catoosa Training Center Rifle Range, a Tennessee Army National Guard facility near Ringgold.
No injuries were reported, according to the release.
At the peak of the flooding, about 20 roads were closed in Catoosa County, according to county estimates. As the water receded, crews worked into the night to clear debris from roads.
Contact religion reporter Kailee Shores at kshores@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.
AREA CLOSINGS AND DELAYS