ATLANTA – Flooding from lines of thunderstorms and rain across the southeastern U.S. killed at least five people, including a toddler whose family's mobile home in Georgia was split apart by a swollen creek.
Three motorists died when their vehicles were swept off Atlanta-area roads, and another woman was found dead in the water. Fast-moving water also swept away a Tennessee man who went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a dare.
The toddler was found Monday afternoon downstream of his family's mobile home, Carroll County Deputy Coroner Ed Baskin said. Floodwaters had swept the 2-year-old boy from his father's arms. The parents had been rescued as their one-year-old son clung to his mother's arms.
Crews in northwest Georgia worked furiously with one eye to the sky to shore up a levee that was in danger of failing along the surging Chattooga River.
Forecasters issued flood alerts for parts of Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia as more rain fell after days of storms that have saturated the ground. As much as 20 inches had fallen in three days in parts of metro Atlanta, leaving soil soggy and trees more vulnerable to falling over.
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