Documentary about the 500-year flood of 1994 in Albany, GA
You can thank Tropical Storm Alberto and a stubborn high pressure system off the Georgia/Carolina coast, and a man by the name of Ricky Gammage who jogged my memory of the natural disaster that ensued, for this post.
This went down just before I left for boot camp. The scene inside the flooded homes after the water receded was eerie and saddening. It was a case of people's possessions and lives in suspended animation - signs of sentience existing mummified by caked on mud. The smell was pungent and permeated every molecule of air within two miles of the affected areas. It was a mixture of dead fish, raw sewage, rotting foodstuffs, mold, mildew, and used car oil. The mud was caked on everything up to a line at a height inversely proportionate to a given location's distance from the river. Everything in the wake of the flood water was covered in a thin film of mud, resembling soot, near the top. Near the depths, especially closer to the river, the mud was much thicker and assumed the shape of any indoor object it encountered as the waters rose. The streets were brown, the cars that were left behind were brown, the houses were brown, and everything within the houses was brown, disease-ridden. The grocery store at which I worked, my high school, my church, and many of my friends houses were affected. Albany State University (then College) was completely submerged, to include the pool where my swim team worked out during swim season.
It was a disgusting, horrible, unforgettable disaster. We survived it. That's what we humans do.
This went down just before I left for boot camp. The scene inside the flooded homes after the water receded was eerie and saddening. It was a case of people's possessions and lives in suspended animation - signs of sentience existing mummified by caked on mud. The smell was pungent and permeated every molecule of air within two miles of the affected areas. It was a mixture of dead fish, raw sewage, rotting foodstuffs, mold, mildew, and used car oil. The mud was caked on everything up to a line at a height inversely proportionate to a given location's distance from the river. Everything in the wake of the flood water was covered in a thin film of mud, resembling soot, near the top. Near the depths, especially closer to the river, the mud was much thicker and assumed the shape of any indoor object it encountered as the waters rose. The streets were brown, the cars that were left behind were brown, the houses were brown, and everything within the houses was brown, disease-ridden. The grocery store at which I worked, my high school, my church, and many of my friends houses were affected. Albany State University (then College) was completely submerged, to include the pool where my swim team worked out during swim season.
It was a disgusting, horrible, unforgettable disaster. We survived it. That's what we humans do.