Despite our best plans, unexpected things happen in schools. Yesterday was one of those days. Last year in
September Georgians worried about the severe effects of the drought, and we
heard rumors that the governor was considering closing the schools because of
insufficient water – just rumors.
The Georgia drought, however, is over. Over the past few
days, suburban Atlanta received record amounts of rain, in some areas as much
as 15-18 inches. (John Clay provided the top two photos of the flood in Kennesaw.)
When I arrived at school at 6:15 yesterday morning, the sky
was spitting rain with sporadic bursts of lightening. While I had heard reports that Paulding and
Douglass, two adjacent counties, had closed their schools because of flooding,
I had no idea that the situation in Cobb was also perilous. Since I live 70
miles north of where I teach, I assumed that the Kennesaw neighborhood where I teach had received only about an inch of rain as I had experienced at my house
in Ellijay.
At 8:00 AM when my first period class normally starts filing
in, only one or two students appeared, and the halls were empty. At 8:25, the
official start of the school day, only 5-6 students were present and school officials
advised teachers not to take roll until 8:45 and later extended that time to
the end of the period when most students had trickled into the building. The
final student entered my classroom around 9:45 and informed us that he had
wrecked his car when he hydroplaned and shot off the road. Luckily he was fine.
By second period the rain was falling so quickly that we
were distracted by the flooding in the parking lot and the waterfall cascading
down the steps overlooking the area where the band practices. Second period was
extended because the rain was so heavy that it was impossible for students to
change classes outside, and one of the halls leading into the cafeteria was
flooding. The bathrooms on the English hall on the second floor of the building
had to be closed because so much water had flooded the sewers that the water
was coming back up through the commodes. (I didn’t understand that part and
felt no need to investigate!)
We changed to third period around noon and then received
word that Cobb County was releasing middle schools early in hopes of getting
all students home as quickly as possible. When school ended, we all faced long
commutes as county officials closed over one hundred roads in Cobb County because
of high water or flooding,
Although my day was long and eventful, I remained dry and in
no danger unlike teachers at another school down the road. Clarkdale
Elementary, a school in the southern section of Cobb County, encountered rising
flood waters and had to evacuate students to another school. I cannot fathom
how much stress those teachers must have endured as they waded their small
children through rising flood waters to awaiting busses. Teachers train for
fire drills, tornado drills, and even lock-down drills, but I don’t remember
ever receiving any information about flood drills since our schools are not in
flood plains.
Late yesterday afternoon Cobb County announced that schools
would be closed on Tuesday because of flooding and closed roads.
It is heartbreaking to look at the photos and videos of flooding
in metropolitan Atlanta and read the accounts of people who died in the storms and
those whose homes are now flooded. It is
also frightening to think of how much worse our problems could have been
yesterday, particularly in Austell where flood waters have now almost totally submerged
Clarkdale Elementary School.
I will say a special
prayer for Clarkdale teachers and their students.