When looking at tectonic hazard risk in the South most would agree it’s a pretty safe place considering its low seismic activity. However, where it lacks seismic activity the South almost overcompensates in extreme weather, whether that be heat, hurricanes, tornadoes, or flooding.
2006-2008 marked one of the worst droughts to hit Southeast, 2007 in particular. Atlanta especially is known for its heat. I remember days at school when we weren’t allowed to go outside for recess or kids getting sent home with heat-related issues. During the summer, the rain was always warm, and when it ended, I’d watch the parking lot outside my apartment get enveloped in wispy steam as it made its way back to the atmosphere.
I didn’t quite understand how bad the situation was at the time, but I came to learn later that several counties were in a state of emergency, and records were broken. Drought intensity is ranked from D0 (Abnormally Dry) to D4 (Exceptionally Dry). At the time, a good portion of Northern Georgia was in D4. I remember the news talking about Lake Lanier, a reservoir my family would visit every so often, being extremely low, as well as the Chattahoochee River, which was a major water supply for Atlanta. We never ran out of water but everyone was implored to use only what was necessary and nothing more, so bottled water was in high demand. At school, we were taught all the ways we could and should save water, from taking shorter showers to putting bottles in the toilet tank to use less water during flushes. For the longest time, I’ve been a stickler about water usage and I think it came from all this. The drought was something that came up in church or at grace before meals, it practically became automatic to ask for rain.
In 2008 my family moved to Ohio and we left the drought behind, but what came the next year was jaw-dropping. The following year Georgia received record-breaking amounts of rain, which was cool and much needed at the beginning of the rainfall, but it just kept coming. Hurricanes happened all around us so I was desensitized to seeing flooded homes, but this was different. I had never seen so much water in Atlanta before. I distinctly remember my 10-year-old self thinking, “Shoot I think we prayed too hard.” The water got so high that the rollercoasters at Six Flags Over Georgia were partially submerged. There was so much water I pretty much forgot there was even a drought. There ended up being $500 million in flooding damage for the state.
Six Flags flooded by the Chattahoochee River
It was
utterly mindboggling to me that the state could go from record-breaking drought
to record-breaking flooding in like a year or two. The drought was attributed
to a jet stream that blocked usual storms from making landfall and a La Niña in
2006 brought on dryer conditions. The above-average rainfall was a result of “A
combination of ample moisture from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico and topography enhancement.” As the saying goes, “Come hell or high
water.” Well, for Georgia and a good portion of the southeast, it definitely
came.
Hey Johanan, I really liked reading your blog! Since I live in Minnesota, I have never experienced a drought, so it was cool to read about one. I am interested in how much water the flood actually brought to Georgia. Did people save some of the water from the flood because everyone was so used to saving it? Where there mitigation techniques set up to prevent flooding? Nice post!
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