Georgia Awash in Damages and Memories : Disaster: Flint River takes out bridges and roads as it creeps into homes and factories. Wary residents wring out tales of past floods.

John Pugh was 4 years old and fearless the last time the Flint River came lapping at his doorstep. “Mama told me don’t go outside,” he remembered, a man of 48 sitting astride a bicycle chatting Tuesday with friends, one eye scanning the heavens for hints of rain. “I climbed over the fence and fell in the water,” he recalled with a chuckle. “It was over my head. Somebody picked me up out of it.”

High waters once again have come to Bainbridge. The state’s worst flood ever is washing muddy water into homes all along the Flint, shutting down factories, turning communities into ghost towns, forcing thousands to flee their homes. This time, Pugh isn’t fooling around. The water still hasn’t reached his house and the river isn’t expected to crest before Thursday, but he’s already moved his family to higher ground after emergency crews told him the area was unsafe.

“It might be all right,” he said, wiping his brow. But he’s not taking any chances.

Damage from the flooding still has not been calculated, but so many bridges and roadways have been destroyed or weakened by surging currents that officials say the entire infrastructure of southwest Georgia may have to be reconstructed. Some 1,500 bridges are still out, and 60 state roads and hundreds of county roads still are closed, said Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ken Davis.

“The litany of things that have been affected with the infrastructure goes on and on, and it will increase as water goes down,” he said. “It’s nothing like we’ve seen in Georgia certainly this century.”

President Clinton plans to visit Albany, one of the hardest-hit cities, today to view the damage there. Thirty-one counties in Georgia already have been declared federal disaster areas. The Flint crested in Albany at 20 feet above flood stage Monday and is expected to remain near that level for five days.

Davis said flooding has been responsible for 30 deaths in the state, half of them in Sumter County, where floodwaters rose rapidly last week. And thunderstorms moved into the area Tuesday, prompting a flash flood watch for portions of Georgia, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle already reeling from the floods.

Florida has estimated $40 million in flood damage so far, including 234 homes destroyed and almost 200 more damaged.

For almost a week now, the people of Bainbridge have watched the waters slowly envelop parks, homes and businesses, it’s relentless movement as insidious as a disease.

Bainbridge, a neighborly town of 15,000 people, where strangers wave at passing cars, has been blessed with time to prepare, because of its position downriver from areas of initial heavy flooding. But that means it is also cursed with the unbearable strain of waiting for the inevitable.

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“It’s wearing out the nerves,” admitted Mayor Bill K. Reynolds, who said he was operating on three hours of sleep Monday. “By having time, you can do a lot of things to prepare,” he said. But on the other hand, the city has been on edge for a week, with work crews working long hours of overtime, missing meals and sleep, trying to protect homes, businesses and government facilities.

Expensive equipment at the city’s sewage treatment plant has been hoisted to the ceilings. Similarly, workers at the many factories that stud the low-lying area in west Bainbridge along the Flint River have had time to remove or protect materials and equipment.

One concern here is a fertilizer plant where 9 million pounds of toxic ammonia is stored in a giant tank. Because the poisonous ammonia would gasify and be released into the air if the plant’s cooling system malfunctions, the plant took numerous precautions. First, it added a second natural gas line to power generators in case the first line becomes damaged. Then tanks of butane and new electrical systems were added for backup power. Finally, as a last resort, the plant installed a system to burn off any escaping gas, the mayor said.

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The river already was 11 feet above flood stage Tuesday. Forecasters predict it will crest at a record 20 feet above flood level. Among the facilities that have been evacuated and ringed by a wall of red Georgia clay is a brand new sprawling county jail, which opened in the flood plain only months ago. Inmates have been dispersed to surrounding counties, and sheriff’s department personnel have temporarily moved back into their old quarters downtown, which at 130 feet above sea level is safe from floodwaters.

About 175,000 people remained without drinking water Tuesday in Georgia. The Red Cross said at least 7,500 families were displaced.

Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) spent much of last week touring the flood-devastated portion of southeastern Alabama he represents. In an eight-county area of his district--the third largest peanut producer in the country, surpassed only by two counties in Georgia that also are underwater--more than 1,100 people are homeless because of the floods. The peanut crop has been crippled.

“This is the second time in four years we’ve been flooded,” said Everett on the plane as he flew back to Washington.

In a shelter in Elba, Ala., last week, he said he met a 91-year-old woman with no family. She lost everything she owned in the 1990 flood and then again last week. “She was crying,” Everett said. “It was tough to watch.”

Harrison reported from Bainbridge and Stanley from Atlanta.