‘Only so much we can do:’ Metro Atlanta shopping center floods as heavy rain moves through the area

COVINGTON, Ga. — As storms and heavy rains moved through metro Atlanta on Tuesday, businesses in a shopping center had to shut their doors.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was outside the shopping center on Elm Street.

Three cars remained stranded outside the Ross store there and crews were working overtime to get the water out of the area.

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An overflowing creek runs just behind the Covington Corners shopping center. By mid-morning, it kept swelling after heavy rain and spilled over a small levee, pouring water across the parking lot.

“As much work as we’ve done to prevent this sort of flooding, it’s just an act of God, obviously, and at a certain point, there’s only so much we can do,” property manager Adam Blatt said.

Blatt says the fire marshal turned off the building’s power and evacuated all the businesses. He figures several inches of water gushed into the Ross clothing store.

“When the river is cresting its banks, as much as we can pump into the river, it’s just going to flood right back,” Blatt described.

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Throughout the day, passersby stopped to take in the view and take pictures of the parking lot that had turned into a lake.

“I was actually coming to shop, but once I seen it was flooded,” shopper Virginia Nash said. “This is not the first time this has happened. It has happened several times here.”

Others say the creek has flooded the lot before, but rarely to the extent that it did on Tuesday.

Sylvia Durden says they saw the photos on social media and just had to stop by.

“Just to see it for myself. Yeah, I wanted to see it for myself...It’s crazy,” she said.

Members of a restoration crew told Mims that the water should be cleared out of the buildings and parking lot by Tuesday night.

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