Real Flood Stories: Atlanta: Two Looks At The Same Flood

Two Looks At The Same Flood

James: We got 18 inches of rain in 18 hours, so some incredible amount of water.

Becky: It didn’t really alarm me until the morning of the actual flood and found that there were so many streets around everywhere that we couldn’t make it to school.

James: This was just a series of thunderstorms that happened to park for a day and brought half the Gulf of Mexico to Atlanta. When we have that much rain, you just kind of watch the backyard and as the water came in, we hustled everything out or upstairs.

Becky: The water came up and kind of came through the wall, so we decided that we probably needed to think about getting out of the house. When my son and I came out the front door, it was pretty high, it was pretty scary. I think I was in such a shock that I couldn’t think of anything except I just want to get out.

James: This is where the water came to. We were thinking that all this would be safe. Now we can’t stay in a house, now the whole thing is going to have to be gutted.

Becky: The water got so high that the mulch from my flower beds came up into here.

James: I do have flood insurance. Flood insurance should not be confused with homeowners insurance. The homeowners insurance does not cover flood, not a penny’s worth. And most people probably don’t realize that. Even though your insurance agent handles flood insurance, it’s a separate policy.

Becky: I did not have flood insurance because I was not in a flood plain, so we were told we didn’t need it. Things are a lot more difficult because of no insurance. I’m paying a mortgage plus having to pay for someplace else to live. Everything was – it was just like somebody had dropped a bomb inside the house. Everything was just destroyed. It’s all so personal and just things like that that you know you can’t keep it, it’s ruined, just throw it away. And to have to look at it and say, I know I’ve got to let it go and they’re just things, but they’re my things.

James: I’ve been paying for flood insurance for 30 years. For the price of flood insurance, it’s inconceivable not to have it. In the grand scheme of things, $350 is not much money compared to this.

Becky: Going forward, when I move back into the house, I will have flood insurance. I won’t take another chance.

James: And as you can see, I’m really, really glad I got flood insurance.