Five years ago this week, much of North Georgia and parts of metro Atlanta were covered by several feet of water.

Governor Sonny Perdue declared 23 counties disaster areas, declaring states of emergency in 17 of those counties. Perhaps hardest hit was Clarkdale Elementary School in Austell.

Jay Dillon recalls the floods ripping through the school like a saw.

“Within three minutes, it had risen three inches,” Dillon told WXIA.

School officials mobilized to evacuate 450 students on buses. Dillon says the school had been there for 60 years and never seen anything like the floodwaters that day five years ago.

So how is Clarkdale Elementary doing now? For two years the students had to be split into two different schools while the county built a new school. Nevertheless, the school opened its doors three years later in 2012.

After the floods of 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey realized the need for improved communications between river monitoring sites and county officials. Since then, the USGS has developed WaterAlert, which will sends notifications of flood events by text and e-mail. The USGS is also developing real-time maps designed to display flood prone neighborhoods.

Tags: Georgia floods, north Georgia, Sonny Perdue