About The Lee County ledger. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1978-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2019)
Page 10A,The Lee County Ledger, Wednesday, July 10, 2019 The Georgia Guard Response to the Flood of 1994: 25 Years Later Special to the Ledger By Maj. William Car- raway Historian, Georgia Army National Guard Operation Crested River Twenty-five years ago, this month, the Georgia National Guard con ducted its largest natural disaster response prior to Hurricane Katrina. On July 3, 1994, Tropi cal Storm Alberto began tracking north across Georgia inundating the state with un precedented rainfall. Twenty-one inches of precipitation was recorded in 24 hours in Americus Georgia. With the ground already saturated from previous rains, Alberto swiftly overloaded streams and rivers with sur face runoff. Flooding was widespread from the southwest Georgia counties to Atlanta. By July 6, the rain had washed out roads and dams, and the Georgia National Guard had opened six armories as shelters for people dis placed by floodwaters. The next day, the units of the Macon-based 48th Infantry Brigade under the command of Col. William Thiele mann began to mobi lize. By the end of the July, more than 3,600 Guardsmen had been called to active duty. They came from units ranging from Toccoa to Valdosta and from Savannah to Columbus. They came together with one mission — to help Georgians in need. The response became known as Operation Crested River. The Infantry Company Executive Officer Major General Thom as Carden, Adjutant General of the Georgia Department of Defense was a first lieutenant when Alberto struck in 1994. As the executive officer for Headquarters Company, 2nd Bat talion, 121st Infantry, Carden was responsible for a detachment of Soldiers at the Georgia Guard armory in Tifton. Upon the declaration of a state of emergency by Governor Zell Miller, Carden and his detach ment reported for duty. “We rallied at Cordele and were sent to Al bany,” said Carden. 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That was so amazing to me, and that will always remain in my mind as an example of the true character of our service members and what we do in this organization.” Despite the passing of time, Stringfield still vividly recalls details of the flood response. “I remember driving through Albany and feeling amazed at the destruction of all those buildings,” said String- field. “The cries for help from the people in the area were devastating.” Stringfield was among the first Guardsmen to reach Albany. With 24,000 evacuees in the area, large public facilities were converted into temporary living quarters for displaced families. “I was assigned to a shelter that I worked at during the day,” String- field said. “We provided security and brought hot meals for citizens who had been displaced. Once the permanent housing became avail able, we transported them there.” With trucks and tacti cal vehicles capable of negotiating damaged and debris-strewn roads, transportation became a key component of the Georgia National Guard response. In areas such as Leesburg, that were completely cut off by flood waters, Georgia Guard helicopters deliv ered relief supplies and transported residents and medical personnel. “We also transported doctors and first re sponders who couldn’t get to their jobs because of the flood,” noted Stringfield of operations in Dougherty County. The Engineer Retired Lt. Col. Mat thew Shannon was a captain with the States boro-based 648th Engi neer Battalion (now the 177th Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 48th Infantry Brigade Com bat Team). Working as the assistant operations officer of the battalion, Shannon relayed assign ments to units within the battalion after they came down from the 48th Infantry Brigade. “(The operations center was) located on a college campus and we were tasked to assist local police,” Shan non said. “Part of the mission was recovering bodies that had come up through the graves because of the flood.” Shannon described how the Soldiers of his unit not only recovered bodies dating back to the Civil War, but also ensured artifacts were recovered. “I remember them saying they recovered a lot of sabers, other weapons and artifacts from the Civil War,” he said. “They would then take everything to a cen tral location for graves registration. Their goal was to try to put as much back together for re-burial.” Shannon recalled how strange it was to have so much flooding in the south when much of the rain had fallen in the north of the state. “It was such an odd ity because there was a lot of sun and a lot of water,” he said. “It’s not something you would have expected to see.” Engineer units of the Georgia National Guard were pressed into ser vice surveying damage and repairing roads. Soldiers of the Colum bus-based 560th Engi neer Battalion worked around the clock to construct a berm around an ammonia tank in Bainbridge. Had flood water breached the berm the entire town would have had to evacuate. By July 18, com mand and control of response operations shifted from the 48th Infantry Brigade to the 265th Engineer Group. Throughout their por tion of the response, the Soldiers of the 48th Brigade operated more than 500 vehicles filled nearly 55,000 sandbags and transported more than 400,000 of drink ing water. The Operations Ser geant Major The Georgia Guard coordinated the state wide response from the tactical operation center in Atlanta. Retired Sgt. Major Jacqueline McKennie was assigned to the TOC Emergency Operations Center dur ing the flood relief. “The EOC was the central command and control facility over all of the National Guard units—both Air Guard and Army Guard— throughout the state of Georgia,” said McKen nie. McKennie was re sponsible for personnel control. She assisted with the mobilization of units and made sure the units knew where they were supposed to go while maintaining ac countability for person nel. Once the units were dispatched, the EOC handled the command and control for each of them. From July 6 to August 5, a myriad of units with specialized equipment and capabilities were dispatched across the state. The Decatur-based 170th Military Police Battalion augmented law enforcement in impacted areas. The Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th Civil Engineer Squad ron were dispatched to Macon after the city’s drinking water source was overwhelmed the city’s water treatment plant. The 116th con ducted water purifica tion operations with the assistance of 20 Ala bama National Guard Soldiers of the 1200th Quartermaster Com pany as well as the Fort Stewart-based 559th Quartermaster Battal ion. The massive purifi cation and distribution mission resulted in the production of nearly five million gallons of drinking water for Bibb County residents. “It was kind of hec tic at first, because the flood hit so hard and so fast that it caused so much death and destruc tion,” said McKennie. “But things eventually returned to normal once we got people into place where help was needed.” The Aftermath Tropical Storm Al berto claimed 30 lives in Georgia. The ages of the victims ranged from 2 to 84 years old. The storm forced more than 35,000 citizens from their homes and caused more than $203 million in infrastructure dam age. The Georgia Guard responded by mobiliz ing, 3,683 Guardsmen - nearly one third of the state’s force. In the weeks that followed, These Guardsmen, in partnership with first responders and civil au thorities from impacted counties distributed more than 10.2 million gallons of water, served 154,000 meals and repaired hundreds of miles of damaged road. For those who served, the memory of the response remains, and the lessons learned have been applied to ensure that the Guard remains ready to respond. In the 25 years follow ing the flood of 1994, the Georgia National Guard has honed its ability to respond to natural disasters. From Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to Hurricanes Matthew, Irma and Mi chael of recent memory, the Georgia Guard has responded and partnered with state and local agencies to assist Geor gia’s citizens in times of emergencies and to minimize the impacts of natural disasters. For those who participated in the response in 1994, the memory of Op eration Crested River remains fresh. “It does not seem like it was so long ago,” said Carden. “Helping our fellow citizens is one of the most reward ing things we do in the National Guard.”
