Many homes on Herring Street in Cartersville were flooded as a result of the downpour between 7 and 8 p.m. The rain fell in Cartersville throughout the day Sunday.
"[Cartersville Police Department] officers and I went up to the doors and we tied ropes to each one of us and around the tenants and just pulled them out and went to higher ground," said Danny Gilreath, who owns seven rental homes on and in the area of Herring Street. "They called and said they had water seeping, and I was at Kroger. By the time I drove from Kroger to [Herring Street] -- the police got here at the same time I did. When I got here the lady was in the window needing to be gotten out. She had a child.
"I was downtown and had trouble getting here. The road was impassable. There was probably 18 inches in the road."
A few of those residents were asleep and two with an infant had to be awakened to evacuate.
Shirley Sanders said she was afraid of the quick-rising water.
"My cellular phone wouldn't call nothing but 911. I called them because I was asleep and I threw my hand down and I felt water and was like, 'Oh, what has went on?'" Sanders said.
Gilreath added the water was 2.5 to 3 feet high, necessitating the rescue of seven people, including two infants and an elderly woman.
"There was another house down the street and they got five people out of it, but it wasn't as bad. The water wasn't in the house," Gilreath said, adding Red Cross would board four families whose Herring Street homes were flooded.
Another home on Railroad Street was nearly flooded Sunday, but rescue crews on scene said the homeowner did not wish to leave, as the water had not entered his home. Water rose in the resident's crawl space.
Heavy rains are also believed to be responsible for the collapse of a commercial roof in the city. Cartersville Fire Department personnel said the rear roof of Hobby Lobby, 180 Market Square, Cartersville, caved in but no one was inside. The store also was flooded.
Firefighters, who said the 19 N. Erwin St. department's basement flooded, secured the area and turned off the utilities. The Daily Tribune News' offices at 251 S. Tennessee St. in Cartersville also fell victim to high water and flooding as brave drivers navigated flooded streets in the area.
Bartow County Fire Department firefighters, who fielded calls for busy Cartersville firefighters, rescued a car that flooded in Target's parking lot at 100 Cherokee Place in Cartersville.
Police scanner traffic Sunday indicated there were other reports of flooded cars caught in high water. Other scanner reports indicated Cartersville streets may have been damaged in the flooding.