Atlanta: A 2-year-old boy swept from his father`s arms was among six people killed by storms pounding the southeastern US, and more rain was expected after the historic dumping that also forced drivers to scramble onto the roofs of cars on Atlanta`s main artery.
The boy, Slade Crawford, was found downstream of his family`s ruined mobile home, which was split apart around 2 am by a surging creek, said Ed Baskin, deputy coroner in Carroll County, Georgia.
The parents had been rescued as another son, age 1, clung to his mother`s arms in the county southwest of Atlanta.
Pat Crawford, the boy`s grandmother, watched as the family`s mobile home was whisked away. "We could see them, but the current was so bad, we couldn`t get to them."
The storms were blamed for four other deaths in Georgia and one in Alabama. A Tennessee man also disappeared after he went swimming in an overflowing ditch on a dare, and officials in north Georgia`s Chattooga County say a 15-year-old boy is also missing.
Forecasters issued flood alerts for parts of Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia, where the ground had been saturated by days of storms.
Authorities warned Georgia drivers to stay home as another round of storms approached.
Bureau Report
