Hurricane Dennis: A Reader Writes

I've been pressed for time lately, but don't want to forget other significant news from Iraq to London and our own south. This below is from a reader with whom I've exchanged many emails before this. Name and email address withheld by request.

Dan, thanks for the email about typepad.  I will probably be gone for a while.
Dennis got us. Lived here for 20 years. never a flood like this. Not in my house anyway. We lost our home and cars early this morning and I feel sure it will be a total loss.

The water came rushing in and it was over. No warning at all. My dog alerted me to it when the water came rushing in. It was unreal. never in my wildest dream did I think i would be a victim of what i had seen people over the years go threw due to flooding.

Dennis won the battle. Georgia will be declared a disaster area The AP was here twice today doing interviews and taking pictures. Watch for any AP reports and pics. They got me and a interview. I lost the most dearest to my heart. A lifetime of family pics. My parents are deceased. All i had were those precious photos.

They brought in boats to rescue folks here. This is so unreal. Wish I could tell all that has gone on. It would take too long. No one was hurt or died. A neighbor saved somones dog tied out from drowning.

All the local TV stations were here as well. This is as close to hell as I want to be. The water was 14 inches inside my 4 downstairs rooms and the cars in the driveway were 3/4 covered in water. I lost a life time of memories.

Anyway, tell the gang hello and I  will check in when I can. The rain is not done yet. It just started back up as I type. :O(.

Sincerely,

M A
Atlanta, Georgia .

Dan, you are more than welcome to post. I  do not mind at all. Just do not let anyone know my email address. I have thus far been lucky on not getting any psycho emails from folks. A couple of virus....and a ruined computer to boot. All will work out. This is a tuff one for us to deal with.

My hubby is on disability for a death ending illness to come down the road. I stay home and sell on the net to be with him and take care of him. Lost all my merchandise I sell. Not sure if homeowners will pay .:O(. Did not have flood ins. We do not live on A Floodplane. Who would have known.

BUT...when i think about it all...we have our dogs and our cats and each other. :O). Life willl go on. When you think you have it bad you can know that there many out there in this world that have it much worse than us. Natalees Mom for one. :O)

Take care & God Bless.

M A

Atlanta, Georgia.
Cobb County

Comments

[mrsJimiHendrix]

Dan

I think this was "!"

please tell her i will be thinking of her

and please tell her i said hello

you kind of built a family here like it or not!!

"!"

if you get this, i am thinking about you and await your return someday

YOU WILL BE SURELY MISSED!!!

[southernBELLE]

M A -

I am also in Cobb County. The rains just wouldn't stop. All day yesterday I prayed for it to stop so I could get out of my driveway. I now have a lake for a yard, but forunately my home has a high foundation. Trees are falling everywhere (those wonderful old old oak trees). I feel your pain and you are in my thoughts.

[MrsJimiHendrix]

!

just thinking of you again today dear!!

sending hugs and kisses to you!!

[!]

Dan, Good, genuine people are few and far between. "You" are one of the few. :O)
By the way , keep up the good work.! You do a fine job.
Well, Its 3:30 in the morning and I just finished one of the many projects I will have to deal with in this long journey that lies ahead. We have 2 cats....there litter maid box had floated out of the laundry room into the kitchen. Imagine that.
Yuck, nasty, what a job that was. After one hour of cleaning all the red mud off it , and cleaning it out I plugged it in and it actually still worked. Cats did not hesitate to run to it. They held it back quite well. LoL
Next up..
After being in mud and water all afternoon, I decided I needed a shower. Then I realized the water heater (gas) was out. No hot water. Its history. Will be using a neighbors house for that come daylight.
Spiders everywhere. Help ! Large flying palmetto bugs (roaches) getting in. We actually saw a 8" shad fish that had washed up in the neighbors yard as well. Jaws Jr. ,Ha ha.
Its a situation of where you have no idea where to start.
So much to do. My worst nightmare. :O(
Come daylight and 9:00 AM the phone calls will start again. I talked my brains right out of my head all day yesterday. Now for all the follow ups of where I go from here.
I live in a tri level house. The whole downstairs is gone. 5 rooms. Kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, family room and two offices. I think it will end up being a total loss. All the sheet rock and insulation would have to be replaced. All the carpet is history, the doors are all swollen and are coming apart at the bottom. Our offices and all desks , chairs, computer desk filing cabinets are gone. Family room & all furnishings , gone, basement totally flooded still ,furnice gone! We spend most of our time of the second level anyway, so that's where we are at now . We still have all the bedrooms on the third level. Hope the lower level does not collapse under us. I think I am stil in a state of shock and awe.
I have rambled on long enough here so, I am "gone" for now.
Just hope out of all the places I called for help will be there for us. That remains to be seen. Mother nature is so cruel ! I do not think I like her anymore. If they do not include GA in the disaster area's I will be paying washing a visit. Ye haw!! You go girl !!
You take care. Going to your site and rest and read for a while. Will take my mind of all of this. Maybe I will catch a couple of hours of zzzzzzzzz.
Thanks for your kinds words and friendship as well. :O)
Sincerely,
Mary Anne Lunsford (better known as ! )

ps...I did spell check this time. he he.

[!]

THANKS FOR SENDING DAN...MA FROM GA. :o)
I will share as well !

FYI - from my email

Hi Dan -

For any of your fans that are writing to you about being in the flood....please pass this on. I was affected by the flood in Houston a few years back. A friend insisted repeatedly that I call FEMA, and I ignored that thinking there was no help for me since I did not have flood insurance and wouldn't qualify for any other programs to help. She finally twisted my arm hard enough that I called them. They were out in a day or so and I was amazed at the things they gave me help on. So for the two readers that have their notes to you posted, please get back to them and urge them to call FEMA. No doubt they will get thousands of dollars in help, very quickly, and from what I saw them write to you, they may get living expenses and they will certainly get 2 years of pre-paid flood insurance. That in itself should be a help since they appear to be at risk of more hurricanes in the short run.

One more note, cars are impossible to get if you wait till the adjusters come to see a flooded car, if they are covered for that, have them get their rental car immediately, as soon as there are any available...or get wait listed ASAP. In Houston, it took over a month to get an adjuster out and even longer to locate a rental vehicle.

Thx,
D

[!]

mrsJimiHendrix
southernBELLE

Thank you guys for thinking of me and your prayers and kind words.

mrsJimiHendrix,
I read both of your post one yesterday and todays. Just was too tired to let you know so now you know I appreciate your kind thoughts!! :O)
Just wanted you to know.
My head is spinning and every day now holds something different. I posted yesterdays events and will further post my adventures of today later. They were wild. Tomorrow will even more so. Right now I am waiting on the Gas company to check out for gas leaks and light my water heater. A cold shower just does not get it. !! :O)
Sleep has been a no no here lately and I think if this ever ends I will check in to a hotel and sleep for a week.
Will go now and read today Natalle update. Its getting sadder and sadder for Beth.

[mastiffs22]

Thoughts to our friends in COBB COUNTY and any area under the seige of DENNIS..God Bless All

[mastiffs22]

Not to run a dead horse into the ground....but I agree with those of you who think the original "attack" took place at Jorans home. No-one knows where his father was, we only have their word and that is not worth much today. Didn't think about the swimming pool as a possible killing place. Since we dont know what the property looks like behind the walls and iron gate anything could be possible. Also, I have no doubt that Natallee called from there, barking dogs and monkey sounds. Neighbor on vacation, did Joran have access to that home? Also, when police and/or strangers involved in a tragedy appear at your gate asking for your assistance....don't you generally invite them in? At least into the courtyard, ask them to down, offer them water. Mr. Papa VS had to stall even with the police blinking their lights, turning on the sirens, calling his name....and then he sort of peaks out from the shrubs. Someone said Natalee could have been in that house, apartment or back yard when the family was out front...I agree. Why didn't the police just say, "MIND IF WE LOOK AROUND?"....why didn't the police go back there with a search warrant, why didn't they go into the vacationers home next door and look around? If Papa VS thought Joran was in bed...why did he call him on a cell phone?? how far away is the apartment, how big is the house....he had to use that as a stall tactic...for some reason. How convenient Deepak and Joran are at home when they come back...why wern't they sweating and looking disheveled?? I must agree with the majority of posters this case was the biggest botched up mess anyone could imagine. God bless Natalee

[MrsJimiHendrix]

!

bookmark this link so we can stay in touch with you!!

[!]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/12105594.htm

Georgians recover from flooding left by Dennis

KRISTEN WYATT

Associated Press

MABLETON, Ga. - Mary Anne Lunsford was up before dawn Monday watching television news about Hurricane Dennis, rain from the storm pouring outside, when her dog Lucy jumped in her lap. The dog's feet were wet.

Lunsford followed the pooch tracks downstairs and saw the water destruction wasn't just on TV. Her kitchen was under 11 inches of water and a basement office and two cars in the driveway were totally submerged in reddish muddy water.

"I never dreamed in my lifetime this would happen to me. I've seen it on TV a million times, but I never thought it would be me, never," Lunsford said.

[!]

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12105594.htm

HI guys...I am all over the internet.
I posted one article above and I came across this article as well by the same AP writer
she justed added more detail.
They never get it just right but...some of it is right. :O) WILL JOIN BACK UP WITH YOU ALL IN DUE TIME. THERE IS JUST SO MUCH TO DO HERE. THIS WAS A CATASTROPHY.

Posted on Mon, Jul. 11, 2005

Georgians recover from flooding left by Dennis

KRISTEN WYATT

Associated Press

MABLETON, Ga. - Mary Anne Lunsford was up before dawn Monday watching television news about Hurricane Dennis, rain from the storm pouring outside, when her dog Lucy jumped in her lap. The dog's feet were wet.

Lunsford followed the pooch tracks downstairs and saw the water destruction wasn't just on TV. Her kitchen was under 11 inches of water and a basement office and two cars in the driveway were totally submerged in reddish muddy water.

"I never dreamed in my lifetime this would happen to me. I've seen it on TV a million times, but I never thought it would be me, never," Lunsford said.

Storms from Dennis churned up the middle part of Georgia Sunday and Monday, swelling creeks, forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes and toppling trees across roads. One death was blamed on the storms.

Marion County in west Georgia recorded more than 8 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Parts of metro Atlanta got more than 6 inches. And about 400 homes in two south Georgia counties were evacuated as a precaution.

In Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta, a 35-year-old man was killed overnight when a huge poplar crashed into his bedroom. His wife and two children escaped unharmed, but authorities said Edward Timmons was killed instantly.

"There wasn't anything we could do," Decatur Deputy Fire Chief Jerry Malone said Monday morning, standing in driving rain outside the house now with a six-foot-wide gash in the roof.

In other parts of Atlanta, muddy water flooded subdivisions, parking lots, car dealerships and golf courses.

Traffic was snarled for the morning rush hour - there were closures on two major interstates near Atlanta because of high water - and at least one bridge was closed south of the city.

A tractor trailer overturned on a two-lane road north of Atlanta, sending the driver to the hospital and closing the road for hours. On other roads, power crews were busy sawing away at trees that crashed.

"It's very scary," said Stanley Casadonte, whose north Atlanta neighborhood was crawling out from at least three large trees that fell into streets and spewed branches. A creek in the neighborhood looked more like a river at midmorning.

"It really freaked me out," said Casadonte, whose home flooded last year from rains from Hurricane Ivan.

In south Georgia, more than 400 homes were evacuated in Worth and Colquitt counties, although state officials said there were no injuries there.

"There could be more heavy rain" through Monday night, said National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Avila. The storms drove a fairly skinny path up the state, following a south-to-north path roughly mirroring Interstate 75. Less than 100 miles east of Atlanta, in Athens, less than an inch of rain fell.

Dozens of emergency workers canvassed the state where already shelters were full of Gulf Coast residents fleeing Hurricane Dennis. In Clayton County, south of Atlanta, firefighters used boats to evacuate residents in at least two neighborhoods.

About 40,000 Georgia Power customers were still without electricity by late Monday afternoon, down from 55,000 reported throughout the morning, said Carol Boatwright, a spokeswoman for the utility. Of those remaining without power, 38,000 were in the Atlanta area. The utility expected to have most power restored by midnight.

Initial damage statewide was estimated at $3 million, but that was expect to rise significantly, said Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. "That figure is going to go up," he said.

In Mableton, where Nickajack Creek swelled its banks and swamped the Lunsford home, neighbors spent the day staring at the muddy lake that appeared overnight. Lunsford lost two computers, a refrigerator and $5,000 worth of furniture she planned to sell on eBay.

"All our stuff is ruined. Our business is ruined," John Lunsford said. "But it's just one of those things. I feel blessed that we're not in worse shape."

[!]

Here is another AP article written by another AP writer. I had two of them come out on Monday when the storm hit. I still have hope that my insurance company will classify this as a catastrophy and I will be covered. They have not come out yet. So many were effected by this storm. Please say a little prayer for me that it will work out. I am still hopeful. It took me a few days, but today I have accepted this all and I am not num and in shock anymore. I am back to the norm now. Dealing with it all. TAKE CARE ALL.
Have a great weekend!! I have hundred of pics. I will send a link when I get them on the net. :O) Unreal!
------------------------------------------------
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-07112005-513190.html

-----------------------------------------------
By ALLEN G. BREED
The Associated Press

In Mableton, Ga., Mary Anne Lunsford was up before dawn Monday watching television news about Dennis, when her dog rain inside with feet soaking wet.

Lunsford followed the pooch tracks downstairs and saw the water destruction wasn't just on TV but throughout her neighborhood. Her kitchen was under 11 inches of water and a basement office and two cars in the driveway were totally submerged.

"I never dreamed in my lifetime this would happen to me," she said. "I've seen it on TV a million times, but I never thought it would be me, never."

[MrsJimiHendrix]

Dam Girl,

Now you are famous too!!

Let me know if i can get in touch with you personally ok?

you may be able to help me get on Fox now too!!

[!]

YES you can....BY phone or email.
???
Let me know how to tell you .
GLAD TO HERE FORM YOU !! YEAH!!! :o)

[MrsJimiHendrix]

!

maybe through Dan???

[!]

EMAIL DAN AND SEND INFO THROUGH HIM OR I WILL ONE. YOU LET ME KNOW WHAT TO DO. EITHER WAY IT DOES NTO MATTER TO ME. THANKS, MA. :o)

[MrsJimiHendrix]

OK!!

[!]

HI LADY... MrsJimiHendrix :o)
I just sent him an email. ! :O)

[!]

DAN POSTED ON UPDATES FOR NATALEE

Regular readers may know this gal. See, reading a web log can make you famous ... though I guess the hurricane might have played a role, too.

MABLETON, Ga. - Mary Anne Lunsford was up before dawn Monday watching television news about Hurricane Dennis, rain from the storm pouring outside, when her dog Lucy jumped in her lap. The dog's feet were wet.

God bless MA - hang in there. ; )

[SouthernBELLE]

MA-

Yes I saw your post. I hope you are pulling through it okay. I really feel for you and these daily downpours are just adding salt to the wound I am sure. I am lucky I have a high foundation or I would be scooping out water too!

I live just a city over from you :)

[!]

Well, that could be Vinings, Smyrna, Douglasville, Marietta ??
Actually I am right down from the Smyrna line
one redlight going south past Nickajack, first redlight after Buckner RD.

A little skip right up to South Cobb Drive

The afternoon rains have been happening everyday since.
The DOT did work for two days straight removing all the crumbled infrstructure way up stream and gave way and came downstream and ended up here at my house where the drain goes under the street.
It will continue to build up again until they take care of the incredible crumbling of the system up the way. They have nto even began to work on that. What a mess it is. I have told them for years and they have done little crap here and there but never addressed the big problem. The whole neigborhood has been on them for years. All take and no major action has been the problem all along.

They are the reason it happened. I do not want to hear their bull about this has not happened in 100 years. THAT IS A CROCK.!!

You should stop by one day!! :O)
I'll give you the "tour of destruction!!
It will probably be 6 months before things in this household will ever be the same. The cleanup here is sooo slow. So much to. You just get burnt out by days end.
:o(
I cannot even begin to imagine how all the others that were affected feel. It took me 3 days to accept it. I was in shock and awe. lol
I have began to realize it all now and am just taking it slow. Every day its another thing I find out. Figured washing machine (new) woudl be okay after a few days. Tried to wash up some muddy stuff and well...its history too.
Inside the dryer was 6 inches of water.
Worked on it today. Got it all scooped out and cleaned inside. IT WORKED...YEAH..
Well, tomorrow is another day. Whats in store no ones knows. We will see.
5 rooms full of stuff all to go through in a large truck parked in driveway.
I have so many pictures od this mess. Trying to figure out which ones to post.
Till next time. .....

[!]

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12105594.htm

The link Dan referenced above.

[SouthernBELLE]

Awww MA-

I am soooo sorry for you, but like you said there are people that have it soo much worse! I am keeping you in my thoughts! Cobb County needs to clean out all those drains and do something about road drainage!!!!

Yep I am in one of those cities.. the closest one to you :)