- Author
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Title
- Search and Rescue Operations in Georgia During Major Floods. July 1994. Technical Rescue Incident Report.
- Coporate
- U.S. Fire Administration, Washington, DC
- Report
- Technical Rescue Incident Report, 1995, 20 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM: U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), 16825 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Telephone: 301-447-1000. Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov
- Contract
- EMW-94-C-4436
- Keywords
- rescue | rescue operations | flooding | damage | weather effects | disasters | water supply | contamination
- Abstract
- During a three-week span in July 1994, the state of Georgia sustained its worst damage ever as the result of flooding. In addition to billions of dollars of property loss, more than 50 lives were lost, and thousands of homeowners were displaced for several weeks. Municipal services in several communities were severely disrupted, as rivers cut communities into several pieces and water supplies were contaminated. The flood was the direct result of the stalled Hurricane Alberto, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm. The storm stalled on-shore for more than a week, with its low center hanging over the middle of the state, between Albany and Macon. Flood disasters have occurred with increasing frequency throughout the United States in the last decade of the 20th century, mostly due to man's growing encroachment on the natural flood plains of North American rivers. The floods along the length of the Mississippi in 1993, and the flooding in California in 1992 and 1994-1995 can be directly attributed to the failure of such narrowing and dam-building efforts.