16 Dead in Georgia Floods as Rains Pelt State for 4th Day : Disaster: Drinking water for 300,000 is cut off as treatment plants fail. People are rescued from trees and farmlands are inundated.

Divers searched for bodies in murky floodwaters and rescuers plucked people hanging from a tree Thursday as rain fell for the fourth straight day in southwestern Georgia. The death toll reached 16.

More than 300,000 people were without safe drinking water for a second day after floodwaters from remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto knocked out water treatment plants. Tens of thousands of acres of prime farmland were under water, while cities along the Flint River braced for a record flood.

Four people were reported missing, although Sumter County Coroner Lynwood McClung held out hope. “These creeks went way back in the woods. It’s possible we could find these people hanging in trees, still alive,” he said.

In Macon, about 80 miles northeast of Americus, firefighters on a hook-and-ladder truck rescued three men from a tree in the raging Ocmulgee River.

Residents of Albany prepared for the worst as the Flint River flowed over its banks and sent water rushing into streets in a low-lying area. At least 14,000 residents were ordered to evacuate.

“We’re just trying to reinforce the levees with sandbags,” Albany State College spokeswoman Jackie Ryan said.

The Flint is expected to reach 44 feet--24 feet above flood stage--by Saturday. Most Albany businesses sent employees home, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was ordered.

The Ocmulgee was believed to have crested at 35 feet Thursday at Macon, where flood stage is 18 feet. But officials could not say for sure because the river gauge was swept away.

About 150,000 people in Macon and surrounding areas have been without water since the treatment plant flooded Wednesday. Statewide, more than 300,000 people were without water. The Clayton County water system, one of the biggest of those knocked out earlier in the week, was back up Thursday.

Water was brought to some areas by tanker trucks. At one water distribution site, 750 people stood in line. People were asked to restrict themselves to one gallon per house, but some walked away with five gallons.

“I’ll check with some of my homebound friends to see if they could use a jug or two,” said Mary Eva DuBose, who was carrying five empty jugs.

Twenty-five inmates on work-release, wearing white uniforms with blue stripes, helped people carry jugs.

Residents in the hard-hit areas were advised to boil tap water before using it. Some people in Americus bathed in water from their swimming pools.

Water covered almost 60,000 acres of peanuts, 19,000 acres of cotton and 10,000 acres of corn. Crops could be saved if there is a break in the rain.

Peanut and cotton farmer James Short said his land “is rolling enough so that not a lot of it is going to stay under for more than a few days.”

Many of the victims will face even more misery after the water recedes because most homeowner insurance policies do not cover flood damage.

Damage to government-owned structures alone was put at $58 million.

Steve Henry, assistant maintenance engineer for the state Transportation Department, said engineers and divers were inspecting hundreds of bridges and roads, most of them around Macon, Americus and Albany.

“There’s hundreds of people working. We don’t know how long this will take or how many bridges are closed,” Henry said.

Rising waters also have swamped towns in Florida, where officials asked President Clinton to declare a state of emergency in 13 counties in the northern part of the state. Some areas within those counties have been doused by more than a foot of rain since the tropical storm hit Saturday.