Residents Return Home as Georgia Flooding Recedes

Floodwaters receded Friday in all areas of Georgia, leaving behind short-range difficulties in finding clean water and long-term environmental problems involving spilled gasoline and chemicals.

Residents in small Georgia towns along the rain-swollen Flint River prepared to return to their homes after the National Weather Service reported that the river had crested at Bainbridge, the last town before the river empties into Lake Seminole along the border of Georgia and Florida.

At its peak, the flood drove more than 30,000 people from their homes. About 3,800 residents of Bainbridge still waited for the floodwaters to recede from portions of the town in the southwest corner of the state.

Besides concerns about flooded homes and businesses, other problems persisted throughout the state. In Macon, officials said their plans to restore municipal water supplies by Monday had been delayed by worse-than-expected flood damage.

Gene Holcomb, executive director of the Macon Water Authority, said the city hopes to have water restored by the end of next week, but it could be mid-August before the water is safe enough to drink.

Georgia Gov. Zell Miller has called the flooding the worst single natural disaster ever to strike the state. It began with four days of rain from Tropical Storm Alberto.

The state now faces a major problem with the congressional and gubernatorial primary scheduled for Tuesday. Floodwaters are still expected to be covering some polling places.

Election officials said Friday that temporary polling places will be set up in tents to replace locations wrecked by the flood.

Federal and state officials also expressed concern for the potential environmental problems caused by the flood. Hazardous materials were stored at more than 1,300 flooded locations, said Bert Langley, emergency response coordinator for Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division. “We’re talking about 7,000 different chemicals,” Langley said.

About half of those sites are service stations storing gasoline. Langley said many of the gasoline storage tanks have broken loose from their moorings and are now floating downstream, spilling their contents.

Much of the toxic material has been diluted by the floodwaters, Langley noted. “A lot of the stuff that has spilled last week already is in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

Even the water itself poses an environmental risk. Officials of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Friday that the huge glut of floodwater flowing through the state’s Panhandle could threaten shellfish beds in Apalachicola Bay.

Biologists said the huge amount of fresh water could dilute the salt water necessary for the survival of oysters, crabs and other marine creatures.