Albany city commissioner remembers the Great Flood of ’94

EDITOR’S NOTE: July 4, 1994 and the days immediately following will always be remembered by southwest Georgians as the time of the Great Flood. The Albany Herald will take a comprehensive look back at that natural disaster in its Weekend edition Sunday. This remembrance from Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard kicks off the anniversary coverage.

ALBANY — With the region dealing with the largest natural disaster in its recorded history as the Flint River flooded in 1994, missing an Albany City Commission meeting may not sound like a big deal.

But for Jon Howard, it nearly was disastrous. Trapped in East Albany because of closed bridges, Howard was going to take a helicopter ride across the swollen waters to make the meeting, but while the aircraft was on the ground a rotor broke.

“If it had broken 10 minutes later, I might have been over that Flint River,” said Howard, who had been in elected office less than seven months at the time of the flood, as he recounted his experiences of 25 years ago.

The Great Flood of 1994 brought devastation and caused deaths in Albany, Dougherty County and to a large area beyond as floodwaters covered an area of Georgia larger than the state of Vermont. When a tropical storm stalled over Georgia, streams flooded and dams were overwhelmed, sending an unimaginable amount of water downstream.

Howard’s adventures weren’t over at the point of the aborted helicopter ride, as a boat trip with a Georgia Department of Natural Resources officer and a Tallahassee television reporter went upside-down as well.

“Unfortunately, the boat capsized in the water,” Howard said. “The (reporter) was saying: ‘Save the camera. Save the camera.’ That was one of my experiences with Tropical Storm Alberto.”

The officer righted the boat, but they had to paddle to land because the motor wouldn’t crank after the submersion.

Many were not so lucky. The flood accounted for 31 deaths in Georgia as people died in their homes or were swept away by water while driving.

Others lost everything, with President Bill Clinton, who made a visit to Albany to survey the storm’s aftermath, declaring 78 counties in Alabama, Florida and Georgia federal disaster areas.

About 18,000 homes were flooded, according to a National Weather Service report on the storm, with damage to homes and businesses estimated at more than $1 billion. Road and bridge damage amounted to more than $130 million. Nearly 500,000 acres of farmland were impacted, resulting in estimated damages of about $100 million.

Hardly anyone would have imagined that buildings a half-mile from the Flint would be inundated with water.

Howard got an indication of the widespread devastation while he was out with a city Public Works Department crew placing sandbags.

“We got a call from Cordele basically saying we need to evacuate as soon as possible – what was coming down was going to overwhelm the Chehaw dam,” Howard recalled. “What Chehaw dam had to do was open the floodgates. By opening the floodgates, everything south of the dam was going to be inundated.”

That would have been the case regardless, as the dam could not have held back the massive swell of water without failing, Howard said.

Police and fire personnel started riding the areas near the river, telling people to get out immediately.

“People were leaving with whatever they could carry,” Howard said.

Much of Albany State University was flooded, as were three Dougherty County public schools.

The city recovered, and in some ways is better, Howard said, but no one will forget the Great Flood of ’94. Sirens have been placed along the Flint to give warning of approaching floodwaters, and those sounded four years later, in 1998, when a second 500-year flood hit the area.

Like people of his father’s generation talked about the tornado of 1940, those who were there will remember the 1994 flood. The Radium Springs area will never be the same.

“I guess we can count our blessings that we’re able to reminisce about the tropical storm and we’re still here and we’re still breathing,” Howard said.