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From left, Capt. Don Bartlett, Sgt. Jerry slaughter and Firefighter/EMT Fred Anderson help Laura Cox distribute the flood buckets Thursday afternoon. Photo/Special.

Flood victims get assistance from Fayetteville 1st UMC

Time of flood spared lives, officials said

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Members of Fayetteville First United Methodist Church are helping residents of Chateau Marnelle mobile home park clean up from Monday’s flood, which was caused by a dam breach from a nearby lake.

Church members filled buckets full of cleaning supplies to help the Chateau Marnelle residents clean up from the flood, which overturned trash cans that were put out for collection that day, spreading trash over the park. Dead or dying fish were also all over the park, presumably from Lake Victor.

The “flood buckets” were distributed to residents Wednesday afternoon. They contained cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, work gloves, air freshener, insect repellent and other necessities, said Laura Cox, program director at the church.

Cox said the congregation had filled up 160 similar buckets that were distributed to hurricane victims in Florida and Alabama earlier this year. Cox said the idea to distribute similar buckets to Chateau Marnelle residents came from church member Pete Nelms, a captain with the Fayette County Department of Emergency Services, one of the agencies which initially responded to the flood.

Officials said the flood could have endangered children had it occurred any time other than the middle of the night.

The water rose to at least several feet deep in some places, and between 20 and 25 families left their homes until the water subsided several hours later. None of the homes had interior water damage, but the raging water damaged underskirting to several of the homes.

A fenced-in playground at the park was also heavily damaged. The force of the flood water was so strong, it carried away a 300-pound riding lawnmower.

The lake, actually located on the opposite side of Ga. Highway 54, emptied after its earthen dam breached around 1 a.m. Monday. The water travelled under a concrete culvert beneath the highway before overflowing from a drainage ditch adjacent to Chateau Marnelle, officials said.

The water eventually drained out of the mobile home park and into two other nearby lakes, which were able to handle the capacity.