Atlanta fire crews had already rescued more than two dozen people overnight when a call came early Friday morning with reports of a family trapped on their car roof in northwest Atlanta.
Battalion Chief Scott Seely said the family was driving when the car started floating away. They were able to scramble onto the roof and call for help. But by the time rescue crews arrived, the car was halfway submerged in floodwaters from nearby Peachtree Creek, and the current was swift.
Using a rescue boat tied to a system of ropes, crews got the couple, their infant and two dogs off their precarious perch and onto dry land.
“Everyone’s fine,” Seely reported. “Just a wild ride.”
The family was one of many residents in northwest Atlanta left scrambling for safety from floodwaters that accompanied Hurricane Helene, with many neighborhoods along Peachtree Creek experiencing historic flooding akin to the record-breaking floods of 2009.
Fifteen years ago, the creek swelled past its banks after days of rain, with waters rising from its normal 3 feet to a then-record of 23.7 feet. The creek’s water rose even higher today, hitting 23.75 feet at 8:15 a.m. and setting a new record, according to a U.S. Geological Survey gage.
Peachtree Creek is “notorious” for flooding, Seely said. It’s a tributary of the Chattahoochee River and any time there is heavy rains, the area around floods.
“We’ve been doing water rescues all night,” he said.
Some of the first to need rescue from the creek’s rising waters were residents of the Peachtree Park Apartments on Peachtree Park Drive.
Complexes there back up to the creek and 25 residents in flooded first-floor apartments were rescued and taken to shelter in MARTA buses, WSB-TV reported. In the parking lot, cars were submerged up to the tops of their tires.
A few miles west along another section of the creek, flood waters turned the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead into a lake. Roads in neighborhoods near the Cross Creek Golf Club were also under water.
Atlanta fire rescue crews made another save on Hyde Manor Drive NW, a road nestled in a curve along the creek’s banks.
Maggie Blease’s family packed go-bags Thursday night just in case. They moved to the neighborhood after the 2009 floods but knew the home flooded then and that it was a possibility again.
“We kind of kept our eye on the water levels from that year,” Blease said. “We were hopeful.”
Her husband and son moved the family’s cars to higher ground around 3:30 a.m. and then the family all tried to get some sleep. When they woke around 6 a.m., water was encroaching on the house.
By the time they sought rescue, the home’s crawlspace had flooded, along with the garage and a sunroom.
“We’re hoping it stays contained to that,” Blease said.
The family was headed to Blease’s mother’s house to dry off and rest.
Atlanta fire Battalion Chief Ronald Slatton said they rescued seven residents from Blease’s neighborhood in all. Slatton said he expected the day would be a busy one.
“It started busy and I’m sure it’s going to continue,” he said.
Staff writers Stephanie Lamm and John Spink contributed reporting.
