Just after midnight on September 21, Rebecca Rush of Lilburn in Gwinnett County woke to crackling lightning and the sound of pounding thunder and her two dogs barking excitedly. The heavy storm system that had pounded the Atlanta metropolitan counties for four days, dumping up to 22 inches of rain. Within 30 minutes of waking the following morning, Rush was knee-deep in floodwaters.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo days after being rescued from clinging to the tree, I returned to the house and could not walk through the front door,\u201d said Rush. \u201cYou know it\u2019s going to be bad, but when you actually see everything, you just cry. The floodwater line on the walls reached nearly seven feet. Everything was covered in thick mud and sludge. It smelled like a sewer. Everything was contaminated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was convinced at the time I bought the policy that I didn\u2019t actually need flood insurance,\u201d said Rush. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason I just bought what I had to\u2014coverage for the structure and not my contents. Looking back, that was not the wise thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read the entire Best Practice: http:\/\/www.fema.gov\/mitigationbp\/bestPracticeDetail.do?mitssId=7031<\/a><\/p>\n