UPDATE: Disabled Residents Flooded Out

   Floodwaters in Hixson forced eight disabled people out of one home at Hosanna Community. That happened Tuesday and tonight we are investigating if that flooding may have come from higher ground.

   The Fountains development off Highway 153 is directly above the lower lying Hosanna Community. The Executive Director at Hosanna says it has flooded there before but not like this.

    They suspect the run-off came from the development with the muddy water moving into one house and forcing the evacuation. And people living at Hosanna don't adapt well to sudden change.

   Terry McNeese has lived here about six years after a very bad car accident. The two inch floodwater coming into her home startled her. "I didn't believe it at first. I was like 'Oh my Gosh, what's going to happen to us.' We're going to be flooded around."

   She is one of the eight residents flooded out. The bedrooms, hallway, kitchen, pantry and laundry room all had about two inches of water on the floor Tuesday.

    Hosanna community is home for physically or mentally disabled people, many from traumatic injuries. The rushing brown water surrounded this home on lower ground Tuesday. Staff moved everyone to the higher house on the hill.

The executive director here says residents don't like sudden change. Ben Holt elaborated, "They like to be able to be confident about exactly what's going to happen today, where they are going to live, where their stuff is and when something disrupts that routine, it bothers them."

    Resident Chrissy Chapman's was also caught by surprise, "I'm not very happy about it, can't wait to go home," Chapman said as she motioned to the flooded out home on lower ground.

    Chapman and seven others will have to wait. Right now, 25 fans and three industrial dehumidifiers are drying out the 55 hundred square foot home. Director Holt says Hosanna plans to pull the carpet, baseboards and replace some sheetrock.

    Holt says floodwaters were about a foot over Grubb Road Tuesday, the highest he's seen here. And the first time dirty water went inside the home.

   He believes another factor contributed, the Fountains development on higher ground at Highway 153 North. Holt explained, "There's excavation up behind us on Highway 153 and some of the drainage systems didn't function with the heavy rain that we had."

     A ditch and sediment pond are below the leveled dirt surface. We contacted the local project manager Jay Floyd with Arcadis. Floyd says the pond meets state requirements but added, "it's possible the storm exceeded the requirements."

Meanwhile, residents are sharing rooms up the hill at Hosanna, looking forward to moving back but are making the best of it. Mc Neese says she has made a new friend and likes bunking with someone. "Yes, because I've gotten so lonely down in my room all alone," McNeese added she feels safer at the higher house.

    Paragon Development Incorporated out of the Atlanta are at first challenged any damage to the home. After we told Greg Blosser we had seen pictures and fans inside he acknowledged he had been to Hosanna and spoken with them. Blosser said, "As a good neighbor I told them I would try to help."

   Hosanna's director says the damage is substantial. They expect two weeks or more before everyone moves back in.