As Helene passes, residents in Buckhead emerge to scenes of destruction

Nancy Creek and Peachtree Creek, meandering tributaries of the Chattahoochee River, have vexed those who live along their banks going back generations.

When it rains — really rains — the two creeks tend to spring out of the confines of their ruddy banks. So, it was Friday that the remnants of Hurricane Helene — and two days of rain before it — invited not only Nancy and Peachtree creeks, but also the Chattahoochee, to flood houses, roads and even the playing fields of two private schools in the western edge of Buckhead.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Within this small slice of Buckhead, the full human drama of Helene played out.

Boat rescues from the muddy waters — including that of two adults and their infant child — became national news in the early morning hours.

Images went viral from Westminster Schools of Atlanta, where overflow from Nancy Creek submerged the school’s football, softball and baseball fields under roughly four feet of murky water overnight. Only the tallest landmarks remained visible — an American flag, an electronic scoreboard, a pair of opposing yellow field goals.

Power crews along Paces Ferry, west of I-75, grappled with the daunting task of restoring power along a road lined with toppled trees, victims of saturated soil that their roots could no longer hold.

A few miles away, near The Lovett School, bleary-eyed residents emerged in the morning to assess damage, where the muddy waters of Chattahoochee River and its tributaries, fed by Helene, spilled over its banks and flooded nearby homes and businesses under several feet of water. Lovett’s athletic fields also were submerged.

Onlookers spoke over the audible din of the rushing and overflowing Chattahoochee. Cars sat abandoned halfway underwater. Some residents, apparently stranded by the several feet of water surrounding their homes, peered out from their windows to survey the scene outside.

Atlanta received an “unprecedented” 11.12 inches of rainfall in a 48-hour period between Wednesday and Friday, breaking the previous record of 9.59 inches set in 1886, said Bill Murphey, Georgia’s state climatologist.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Straddling the shoulder of Paces Ferry Road, a Georgia Power crew worked Friday to diagnose a power line ripped down by a tree overnight. It was their third call that morning. Even without high winds, the rain brought by Helene and the cold front that preceded it significantly loosened soil around tree roots throughout the metro Atlanta area, said Georgia Power spokesman Matthew Kent.

“As the storm went through, the ground was already saturated, so it did cause a number of trees to come down and a lot of power lines came down with those trees,” Kent said.

Kent, with Georgia Power, urged residents to be patient. As of Friday morning, many crews are still assessing the damage. He could not give a precise time when power would be restored to all residents, but said crews are working around the clock.

Late Friday afternoon, more than 600,000 Georgia Power customers were without power statewide. They were among nearly 1 million utility customers in the state who were without electricity.

Stephen Spivey, head of Westminster School’s security, said he had only seen flooding like this one other time, years back.

While Westminster’s campus is closed over the weekend, Spivey said he doesn’t see why the football field can’t be ready by the time Westminster plays Kell High School on Oct. 11.

“You’d be surprised how fast these waters recede,” Spivey said.

Though the floodwaters will soon recede, for many homeowners and business owners near the creeks and river, recovery will take much longer.

— Staff writer Drew Kann contributed to this report.

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