Overnight storms cause flooding, property damage - CBS Atlanta 46

Another round of powerful storms wreaked havoc on metro Atlanta neighborhoods late Wednesday and early Thursday, leaving motorists stranded in flooded streets and homes and cars crushed by fallen trees.

At the intersection of Penn Avenue and 5^th Street in midtown Atlanta, a large tree fell onto the street, taking down utility lines and crushing an SUV. The driver, who apparently was stopped at a stop sign, wasn't hurt.

"It's one of those things where you say it's really sad and terrible and tragic, and then you realize we're very lucky," said Hans Dietrich who lives in an apartment building just feet from the fallen tree.

In southwest Atlanta, several drivers found themselves stranded during the overnight downpour as their cars sank into three feet of standing water at the Northside underpass at Interstate 20.

"It was raining so hard, and visibility was sort of low," said Aletha Chandler. "I turned the corner, and it was too late. I had already lost traction and the car had drifted to the middle."  

After a tow truck pulled her car out of the water, she opened the car door and water poured out.

Street flooding also was reported at Piedmont Road and Miami Circle in northeast Atlanta.

In Alpharetta, a tree fell onto a home on Dani Drive. No one was hurt.

And in southwest Atlanta, a woman and her adult son were flooded out of their Centra Villa apartment.

"Water was coming up in our bedrooms, bathrooms. It was all over," said the woman, who declined to identify herself because she said she's been squabbling with her landlord over the clogged storm drains which she believes caused the flooding.

Tow truck driver Clifford Irby stayed busy all night and into Monday morning pulling cars from flooded streets.

"Dirty job but somebody's got to get in it," he said.

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