9 deaths blamed on Southeast storm; flood lingers

Jennifer Bozeman, 19, and Nabor Torres stand at the edge of Sweetwater Creek after it overflowed its banks and left the mobile home park where they live flooded

AUSTELL, Ga. – Neighborhoods, schools and even roller coasters at Six Flags over Georgia remained awash in several feet of murky, brown water Tuesday, even as an emerging sun shed light on the widespread flood damage.

So far, at least nine deaths in Georgia and Alabama were blamed on the torrential downpours in the Southeast. The storms finally relented and relief was in sight with just a slight chance of rain overnight, but the onslaught left many parts of the region in stagnant water.

In Tennessee, a man was still missing after jumping into the fast-moving water as part of a bet. Boats and trucks evacuated 120 residents from a retirement center as nearby creeks rose, and several hundred others were ferried from low-lying neighborhoods and motels to dry land.

Several hundred people in Georgia took refuge at shelters and officials worked to clean up and repair washed out roads and bridges. Georgia officials estimated $250 million in damages.

The storm left nine people dead in its wake, including a toddler swept from his father's arms. On Tuesday, rescuers found the body of 14-year-old Nicholas Osley who was swimming in the Chattooga River, along with another woman who was swept from her car in Douglas County just west of Atlanta.

Authorities also released a 15-minute 911 call of another storm victim's last moments. Seydi Burciaga, 39, screamed to a dispatcher as water rose to her neck. The dispatcher advised her to try to break a window, but she can't.

"I don't want to drown here, please!" Burciaga said.

After several days of steady rain, the ground was saturated from Alabama through Georgia into eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. The floods came just months after an epic two-year drought in the region ended with winter rains.

Georgia emergency officials warned residents not to return to their homes too soon because the lingering water was still dangerous. Some ignored officials and had to be rescued.

"We had people who were out safely but decided they wanted to get back in danger," said Charley English, head of Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

The devastation surrounding Atlanta was widespread. In Austell, about 17 miles west of downtown Atlanta, Sweetwater Creek overflowed its banks, sending muddy water rushing into a nearby mobile home park where several trailers were almost completely submerged.

"We don't know what to do," said Jenny Roque, 30, who lived there with her husband and four children. "The only thing we have left is our truck."

Just down the road, in the Mulberry Creek subdivision, large houses built just five years ago were partially underwater. Some residents tried to salvage anything.

"There's things that you can't replace, but it's just stuff," said Deborah Golden, whose split-level home was mostly underwater. "But there are four people in our family and we're all safe so we're glad for that."

As Peachtree Creek in Atlanta began to recede, residents were packing moving vans with furniture and commiserating about water-logged apartments.

"I'm toast," said Penny Freeman, who moved into a first-floor unit five days ago. "I don't have a place to stay. I'm losing my mind right now."

Washed-out roads and flooded freeways around metro Atlanta caused commuters headaches. Gov. Sonny Perdue asked President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency in Georgia.

At one of the largest shelters at the Cobb County Civic Center, Shirley Jones sat with others on green cots, chatting about the fate of their homes. Around them, children played games, oblivious to the destruction.

"When I saw the water rising, it brought back bad memories," said Jones, who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The 72-year-old had moved to the area two months ago.

Jones said rescue efforts this time went much more smoothly. A boat retrieved her from a family member's house.

Before being evacuated, Cordell Albert and her husband Christopher moved their valuables to the second floor of their Powder Springs home. The couple waded through knee-deep water before a raft picked them up.

"I feel lost," she said. "I feel homeless."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_heavy_rain_southeast

Atlanta gas crunch: 'We've got no gas here'

Mohammed Hussain got 3,000 gallons of gas delivered to his Chevron station in suburban Atlanta on Saturday. By Sunday morning, all of the gas, priced at $4.39 per gallon for regular unleaded, was gone.

"We're dry. We've got no gas here," Hussain, the station's manager, said Monday morning.

He said he has "no idea" when the next shipment will come, even though he's been in constant contact with the local terminal.

"It could be days," he said. "Obviously, we're disappointed. We're being patient. That's all we can do."

Across metro Atlanta, drivers in one of the nation's largest commuter cities are running into the same thing: a lack of gas and no clear idea when the situation will get better. State and industry officials say they're working as fast as they can and are urging people not to panic.

Christina Wedge, a resident of the Atlanta suburb Decatur, said her tank was on empty Sunday. When she went to fill up, she passed six stations closed down before finally finding one with gas for nearly $5 a gallon. She got just enough to continue looking for a cheaper price.

About a mile away, she found a station with long lines for gas around $4.29.

"I waited 30 minutes to get gas," she said. "It does concern me. I'm actually frustrated that the prices are so high."

Michael Lanfreschi, an iReporter from the suburb of Alpharetta, shared a similar story. He said he left work around noon to fill up his tank "when I started noticing all of the gas stations were empty."

"There was no gas to be found, then panic set in as I approached a gas station with a 40-car line," he said. "This is causing complete chaos. Why is this happening, and what actions are being taken to prevent this from happening again, and why did it happen in the first place?"

According to AAA, Atlanta's drivers are in for sticker shock when they do find a station with gasoline. The average price in metro Atlanta, as of Monday, for a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.02, nearly 30 cents higher than the national average of $3.74.

The gas supply has taken a major hit as refineries in the Houston area try to get back up to full capacity in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, state and industry officials say. The Colonial Pipeline, which typically delivers 100 million gallons of gasoline, aviation fuel and other petroleum products throughout the southeastern United States, is not running at full capacity.

"Since the hurricanes both hit, we have been tapping the reserves of the stockpiles of the fuels that were made before the hurricanes hit, and we've been delivering those," said Steve Baker, a spokesman for the pipeline.

"That's caused us to operate at a reduced rate, less than we're capable of. So that's been part of the problem that we've faced, and we're trying to overcome."

Further complicating matters is that metro Atlanta has more stringent environmental requirements than other areas, meaning gas from other cities can't be brought in because it doesn't meet the city's smog requirements. The state is working with the state energy agency and the Environmental Protection Agency about getting a temporary waiver of that rule, said Bert Brantley, a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue's office.

"I don't want anyone to think that's a panacea," he said.

But he added, "Anything that would help us get another truckload or two ... is going to help the situation."

Brantley said the state has already lifted some regulations allowing for drivers to work more hours to get fuel from the main terminal to stations and for heavier trucks to be allowed to carry larger loads than normal. The state is asking people who don't need to fill up their tanks to wait until later before doing so.

"There's somewhat of a shortage right now, but it certainly could get a lot worse if people were to panic and react in a way that would cause a run and drain what supply there is out there now," Brantley said. "That's why we're encouraging Georgians to conserve as much as possible."

The state would not offer a timeframe on when the situation might return to normal. Brantley, however, said the situation with Houston's refineries is getting better every day.

Jim Tudor, the president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, which represents about 2,600 stores, praised the state for lifting some of the restrictions to allow for quicker delivery of fuel.

"We are working as fast as possible to try to get as many stations refilled," he said. "Having said that, we're still in catch-up mode."

That brings little relief to consumers.

iReporter Dustin Gatlin said he waited 45 minutes Sunday at an Atlanta QuikTrip before it shut down. He then waited for well over an hour at a different station.

"Yesterday, we were in line for about two hours and they actually had people [who worked for the gas station] out there directing traffic because there were people jumping in line, and they actually had to get people out there to watch," he said.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/22/atlanta.gas.crunch/?iref=mpstoryview

America's Worst-Selling Housing Markets

Miami-area home sellers looking to unload their properties might want to make sure they have comfortable couches.

It looks like they're going to be there a while.

That's because Miami tops our list of the nation's most sedentary housing markets. These 10 spots feature a potent mix of dropping prices and sluggish sales rates. Also on the list: Denver, San Diego, Baltimore and Chicago.

In compiling our list, we looked at price growth and sales rates in the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas. We took the cities in the midst of year-over-year price declines, based on National Association of Realtors data, then calculated how quickly these cities are shedding inventory from their peaks, which occurred between four and six months ago, based on data from ZipRealty, an aggregator of multiple listing service data. Atlanta, a likely contender for the top ten, was not considered due to irregularities in inventory reporting.

By using sales rate, instead of the months remaining of inventory, we wind up with a figure that shows how quickly homes have been leaving the market from its most saturated point, the most straightforward indicator for measuring sedentary vs. active sales.

In Chicago, for example, where the median home sale price in the fourth quarter of 2007 was $261,000, a 2.6% drop from the previous year, there were 72,842 homes on the market, with 2.2% of them selling each month.

While this sales rate alone isn't extraordinary, it matters because Chicago's housing supply is overstocked, with 50% more houses on the market than two years ago. Prices, as a result, are continuing to sink.
Behind The Numbers

It's important to note that housing markets never contract to zero inventory. Their inventory cushions also differ. From 2002 to 2006, New York had an average unsold inventory rate of 1.7%. But another healthy market during that time, Charlotte, N.C., maintained a 2.9% unsold housing inventory rate.

"Every market is a little bit different," says Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan-based real estate appraisal company. "But while faster sales don't necessarily mean a bottom is around the corner, it is a significant reversal." That's because prices typically go up after inventory goes down.

Another important point is that the country's most sedentary housing markets are not the ones with free-falling prices.

Some of the country's more active markets are Las Vegas and Sacramento, Calif., where houses are moving off the listing pages at monthly rates of 3.4% and 4.2%, respectively, from their peak inventory gluts.

But both those markets were dramatically overbuilt during the boom, and sales are largely a result of homeowners slashing prices. In Sacramento, 50% of area homes have been marked down from their original listing prices; it’s 48% in Las Vegas, according to ZipRealty.

Chicago-area sales are more sluggish, but even though prices have declined (they are down 2.6% for the year), they're nowhere near the double-digit falls seen in Las Vegas and Sacramento.

The markets that are really in trouble are those in Florida, which have experienced all the overbuilding and lending problems of Las Vegas and Sacramento but are experiencing flat sales. In September 2007 in Orlando, No. 2 on our list, there were 35,365 homes on the market. Since then, available inventory has shrunk at the excruciatingly slow monthly rate of 0.6% per month. It's the same story in Miami, where homes have been selling at an underwhelming rate of 0.2% per month.

Miller says there's generally a three to six month lag between when a city starts putting a serious dent into its inventory and when prices start to improve.

For these 10 markets, that moment can't come soon enough.

Found at: http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-worst-selling-housing-markets.html