Fresh Loaf

President Barack Obama today said federal assistance has been made available for Cobb, Paulding, Douglas Carroll and Cherokee County residents who suffered losses from the unprecedented floods that devastated metro Atlanta earlier this week. (UPDATE: Apparently there was some confusion about which counties were chosen to receive assistance. The AJC’s Gold Dome Live has a pretty hilarious summary of the “huh, what?”)

Left out of Obama’s declaration were 12 other metro countries, including DeKalb and Fulton County. Gov. Sonny Perdue says the state’s request for the remaining counties is still pending.

From Perdue’s office:

The federal declaration covers individual assistance and can include grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repairs and other serious disaster-related expenses. Low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration will also be available to cover residential and business losses not fully compensated by insurance.

…

Residents and business owners in the four counties declared by the President as a major disaster area who sustained losses can begin applying for assistance by registering online at http://www.fema.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time) Monday through Sunday.

The Georgia Emergency Management Agency continues to coordinate state recovery efforts. Contact information for GEMA can be found on its website.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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CBS Atlanta reports that Hardin Construction, the big-name firm that managed the construction of the partially-collapsed Cyntergy parking deck in Midtown Atlanta, was also involved in the construction of the Atlanta Botanical Garden walkway that collapsed in December 2008. One worker was killed and 18 others injured in that accident.

The company, which was founded in Atlanta, is behind such notable buildings as 30 Allen Plaza, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation office, Terminus in Buckhead and — well, hell, a bunch of other buildings in metro Atlanta. In April, Hardin was selected by the University of Georgia to build two new parking decks on campus (PDF of the announcement).

A Hardin spokeswoman sent CL this statement:

We were the construction manager on the entire Centergy project, which included two office buildings and the parking facility. The parking facility was completed in December of 2002

For more information on how this deck was designed, fabricated and erected, your best source of information is Metromont Corporation who was responsible for the structure and chosen because of their expertise in precast/prestressed concrete building systems.

We contacted Metromont’s Greenville, S.C. office, but it’s closed for the day. We’ll update when we hear word. Back to the statement!

(more…)

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Or at least pretend to be one? Here’s your chance:

From the Oakhurst Yahoo message board:

Volunteers needed tomorrow for a diaster drill
Posted by: [redacted]
Fri Oct 3, 2008 5:49 am (PDT)

Looking for something unique and interesting to do this weekend? Want to maybe learn some make-up tricks to help you create a realistic looking costume this Halloween? The DeKalb County Fire Rescue corp is looking for volunteers to be simulated patients for a disaster drill THIS SATURDAY (tomorrow, Oct. 4th) from 4pm-9:30pm. You will need to wear old clothes because you will be made-up with fake injuries (fake blood, etc.). Then you’ll be assigned to an area of “the scene” and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and DeKalb firefighters will arrive and try to make everything better.

If you, or your family, neighbors, friends, community group members, Boy Scout Troops, Explorer Programs, church members, or ANYONE else would like to volunteer please email [redacted to save the guy from spammers] for details ASAP. Volunteers must be 12 years of age or older.

Send him an email here.

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