A year after flooding, Atlanta is paying out settlements to homeowners

ATLANTA — September 14, 2023, heavy rains led to flooding that stranded cars in streets and washed out homes and property.

Back then Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management said the storm dropped three hours’ worth of water in 15 minutes, overwhelming the city’s stormwater system capacity.

A year later, some residents are still recovering, and the city is paying for it.

“This is something none of us wanted,” Mackilyn Cook said.

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Cook was one of more than 30 settlements the City of Atlanta paid for flooding related to last year’s storm. The total amount is over $300,000 dollars.

Cook remembers the water backing up inside her home that day.

“It came in through the toilet, it came in through the sewer, and we can’t do anything about this,” Cook said.

Cook received more than $30,000 to repair damage to her home, one of three properties on Jett Street to receive five-figure payouts. Cook says Watershed employees told her a creek with debris contributed to the flooding.

“Had they been keeping it up, making sure those creeks and everything was clean, we wouldn’t have had the flood in the first place,” Cook said.

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Near Grant Park, the city is paying Emily Pease’s family $50,000 after an overwhelmed stormwater system brought a river to Emily Pease’s doorstep and flooded her basement.

“It took out our water heater, our HVAC, everything, life 6 ft worth of water, and the city didn’t do anything,” Pease said.

Pease said she called the city more than 80 times in their fight to get compensated for the damage, and the total amount was more than $30,000 short of what they paid for repairs.

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The city has invested millions of dollars into the Department of Watershed Management. In a statement, the department says they are implementing solutions and working with areas like Clark Atlanta University to mitigate flooding.

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