On September 21, the rains came and stayed. Jim went to work, but called and said that they were being delayed for two hours. Then he called and said the schools were closed because roads were flooded and there was no way to get students to and from the schools. Several of the high school students were already at school, and their parents had to be called to pick them up. Several roads were closed, and the waters kept rising. There were deaths and lots of basement flooding. We were not affected by the flood waters, but some in our Ward had water in their basements. For a time Highway 29 (that I usually take to work) was closed in one area, Five Forks was closed, Sugarloaf Parkway (where we go to Stacy's house), and several freeways in the North part of town were closed. The kids were home from school, so Stacy called late morning and said the pool was still heated and that she and Dahra decided to have lunch together and then let the kids swim in the rain. Dad and I decided to brave the elements, and we took off for Stacy's house. Thank goodness Dad was driving, because we got stopped at Sugarloaf and at Highway 29. He found a way around through Lawrenceville, and we had a great time having lunch and watching the kids swim in the rain. They had a ball, and it was a good way to while away the hours! We started home before the rush hour, but it was still raining quite a bit. Road closings and flooding continued through Wednesday...quite unusual for Atlanta! No one in our family seemed to be affected except with road-closings and inconvenience, thank goodness! Amy got a picture of the Brinkerhoff kids playing with a neighbor in the rain outside their house. There were buses at the parking lot at Parkview High School that were turned over and moved by the water. It was really powerful!
