When the Flood Comes

Georgia Grapples With Damage From Storm

ATLANTA — The death toll from the floods in Georgia rose to nine people as the waters continued to recede on Wednesday, and residents grappled with the damage that has destroyed their homes, uprooted their lives and shut down bridges and major roadways around the Atlanta area.

Another body was found Tuesday evening in hardest-hit Douglas County. Richard Butler, 29, was swept from his car and died, like the other five victims from the county, as a result of flash-flooding, said Wes Tallon, the spokesman for the county’s emergency management agency.

In the county, about 23 miles west of the city, people were lining up for bottled water while the authorities checked abandoned cars for bodies and swept debris to clear streets. The county was hit by 21 inches of rain in a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday, knocking out the drinking water supply to most residents, and forcing others to boil their water. On Wednesday, two churches provided bottles for people. “It’s going as fast as we’re giving it away,” Mr. Tallon said.

State emergency officials said about 30,000 homes were without electricity. Trisha Palmer, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Ga., said that the flooding was far worse than the hurricane-level damage from 2005. “In this office, nobody remembers anything like this,” she said. “This is worse and much more widespread.”

story & photo courtesy of - The New York Times

What does today's God Story scripture teach us about floods?

Water is powerful, it can give and sustain life and it can destroy it to.  Floodwaters can tear apart a city in day and a free bottle of water can draw people from miles around to a local church in a time of need.  Ocean waves can pick you up and toss you down, while the calm waters of an evening tide can rock you right to sleep.  Needless to say, water is one of the most profound aspects of creation, a constant reminder of the beautiful complexity of our God.

In Georgia there are thousands of people suffering because of floodwaters.  If you're a Christian anywhere near those Geogians suffering, please be moved to action.  Go hand out water, help people tear moldy drywall out of their homes, and listen as people tell traumatic stories about their encounters with the flood.  Go be the hands and feet of Jesus for thousands of suffering people.  If you're like me and you're miles away from the suffering, you can join me in praying Psalm 69:15 for the victims of the Georgia floods.  I would also encourage you to seek out those around you suffering from "floods" of their own.  Maybe it's a friend caught up in an addiction, or a destructive pattern of behavior, or maybe it's a lonely classmate mired in depression, there are people all around us hurting and in need of the sacrificial love that Christians are called to show when people are caught the floods of life.