Heavy rains cause damage across metro, more storms expected

ATLANTA — More rain is in the forecast for Sunday as hundreds of people across the Atlanta metro continue to deal with serious damage caused by heavy rain from pop-up storms Saturday.

Severe Weather Team 2's Brad Nitz said showers and storms will develop across the metro once again Sunday afternoon.

Nitz said localized heavy downpours are likely Sunday and the storms will likely carry over into the beginning of the week.

"We'll continue with a good chance of showers and storms into the first part of the workweek and some drying is expected by midweek," Nitz said.

Residents in Cobb County are still cleaning up after Saturday's storm.

One couple is in fear a 60-foot pine tree will fall onto their neighbor's house if it rains a lot Sunday night.

Glenn Radford gave Channel 2's Liz Artz a tour of his Marietta home. All it took was a heavy downpour and two minutes Saturday night for two pine trees to come crashing through his roof.

"My wife said there's a pop somewhere and our hallway starting flooding with water immediately," Radford said.

Radford said it rained hard for 45 minutes, off and on for two hours, all the while his home filling with water.

"My wife was on the phone with 911. I was on the phone with the insurance company at the same time," Radford said.

Firefighters responded immediately, tarping the roof and filling an armoire with family heirlooms.

Radford estimates the fast-moving storm caused a $100,000 worth of damage to his home.

He said one tree came down in the front of the house and one came down in the back. Those trees now pierce through the closet ceiling inside.

Another tree is worrisome for Radford and his neighbors, which they think may come down at any moment.

"We're really worried about whether or not it's going to make it the day if it makes it through the night we'll be lucky," Radford said.

Less than 24 hours later restoration crews were inside ripping out flooring. The couple moved to a hotel where they plan to ride out another rainy night.

"We were really lucky," Radford said.

Radford said a tree company is coming out first thing Monday and will be taking down three more trees.

Saturday's heavy rain caused a wall to collapse at the Ivory Ridge Apartments off Bentley Road in Marietta, which then formed a sinkhole outside one of the apartment buildings.

Restoration crews are at the complex to begin repairs to the building. Residents who live in the building have been evacuated.

Officials told Channel 2's Rachel Stockman they are hoping at some point Sunday to let residents back in to the building to get some of their belongings.

The heavy rains washed out part of C. Rogers Road in Hall County, where the sheriff's office had to set up a ferry to shuttle about 100 residents to and from their homes.

The road was the only way to and from their homes.

"It's a mess. It was about 20 feet across and probably 15 to 20 feet deep, so it was a good chunk of dirt that washed away," resident Jennifer Rose said.

Rose told Channel 2's Ashley Swann she couldn't believe her eyes as she attempted to drive down C. Rogers Road and saw the massive whole.

Rose told Swann her two children were at their babysitter's house on the other side of the washed out road.

"It's a 5-month-old and 6-year-old and she has her own 6-year-old, so she's stuck in a house with three kids," Rose said.

Authorities said the heavy rain flooded a stream below the road, causing the washout and isolating 100 families just after 3 p.m.

The sheriff's office set up a ferry using their dive boat to shuttle residents back and forth, a service Debi Rucker and her family took advantage of after attempting to drive home with four young children all ready for bed.

"We got about ½ a mile from home and the policeman stopped us," Rucker said. "I just hope that everybody's OK in that area and hopefully tomorrow they say they'll open the road again."

Crews worked into the night to install two new pipes and fill the hole with enough dirt and gravel to reopen the road as soon as possible.

"It'll be good to get the babies back and I'm sure she'll be glad to have her house back, too," Rose said.

Authorities were able to get the road repaired by early Sunday morning.

WSBTV