Congressman Nathan Deal, center, meets Tuesday afternoon with Walker County officials, including county commissioner Bebe Heiskell and state Rep. Martin Scott, right, of Rossville.
Deal, the 9th District lawmaker, flew into the Walker County Civic Center in Rock Spring to met Walker County commissioner Bebe Heiskell and county coordinator David Ashburn along with other elected officials to view the damage localized in Walker County.
“It has been many years since we have seen devastation like this left behind because of flooding in north Georgia,” Deal said.
North Georgia, as far south as Atlanta, was hit by a rain event over the past weekend that left many creeks and streams flooding their banks into people’s homes.
Deal and the Walker County delegation assessed the damage from the air using a helicop-ter provided by the congressman to get a better look at the areas hardest hit within the county.
“Our hearts go out to the people whose lives have been disrupted by the flooding,” eiskell said. “We have had crews working 24 hours a day for the last several days to try and deal with the problems that water has caused.”
On Monday Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared Walker County along with sixteen other counties in north Georgia to be state disaster areas.
“Hopefully this will mean that assistance from GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) will become available to local residents who will need funds to help with the dam-age caused by the flood,” Heiskell said.
Deal’s decision to assess the damage in north Georgia came on the heals of his request of President Barack Obama to declare the area a federal disaster area.
“Hopefully we can get some help from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to assist the victims of this terrible flooding event,” Deal said.
Those residents who have been displaced from their homes by the flood are encouraged to contact the Walker County Civic Center where the Red Cross and Salvation Army are cur-rently helping to man an emergency shelter for the victims.
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