September 22, 2009

Atlanta Deluge

So if you don't live in Atlanta, it's possible that you've missed the news that it's been raining for about a week, and yesterday's storms brought the metro area to its tipping point... floods everywhere!

So yesterday my coworkers and I decided we should leave work early to try and get home before storms and flooding got worse, but we were about an hour late in making that decision... a coworker and I got stuck on the I-75/I-85 connector in downtown Atlanta when the interstate flooded in both directions. I circled the approximate location of my car when this aerial shot was taken - right under that overpass. I was just grateful to be under the overpass so I could get out of my car and walk around a bit to figure out what was happening... and also grateful that I wasn't about 10 minutes earlier to the scene, or that may have been my car drowned out in the water!



My coworker took this photo of the scene.



After probably an hour of sitting there, police organized things enough that we could all turn around and squeeze up the side and get onto a bypass a little ways back on the interstate. Then I had to call Chris and get him to figure out for me what the best alternate route was for me to get home and not get stuck on another flooded road. Chris had a friend who was also going home from downtown, who was able to tell him how he made it safely to the interstate, so I followed suit, slowly but surely... and my 30 minute commute finally ended 2 hours after it started.

I was just soooo grateful to be home and not stuck on the interstate for longer than we were. At first I was anticipating being there for hours!

At least now I have a story, and I can mark "make a three-point turn and drive back the wrong way on the interstate" off my list of "Things to do before I'm 30." *

* No, that wasn't on my list. I don't even have a list. But I SHOULD have a list, and if I did, that should have been on it.

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