The first week of July will mark the ten-year anniversary of Tropical Storm Alberto’s devastating floods in Georgia. Areas of west Georgia were particularly hard hit, with three-day rainfall amounts in excess of 21 inches producing over $750 million in damage and contributing to 33 deaths.

Tropical Storm Alberto originated in Senegal, near the west coast of Africa, on June 18, 1994 as a tropical wave. The system became Tropical Depression One on June 30, 1994. On July 2, 1994 the depression strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico near the Yucatan Peninsula to become Tropical Storm Alberto. When the center made landfall near Destin, Florida, on July 3, Alberto was at its peak intensity with 65 mph winds. Alberto quickly weakened to a tropical depression again. After landfall, the motion of the storm slowed and precipitation increased. The storm moved slowly through Alabama into Georgia, stalling just south of Atlanta. Over the next few days it reversed its course and then looped back on its previous course before ultimately dissipating.

During the period of July 3-6 of 1994, Alberto dumped copious amounts of rain across the area. The heaviest rainfall was south of a Carrollton to Atlanta line and west of an Atlanta to Macon to Cordele line. The greatest rainfall in Middle Georgia fell in a band from Peachtree City south to Americus. Rainfall amounts of 12 to 24 inches were common in this stretch. Rainfall amounts as high as 21.1 inches in 24 hours were observed at Americus, Georgia with storm totals at Americus of 27.61 inches.

This rainfall produced record and near-record flooding along the Flint, Ocmulgee and Chattahoochee Rivers. In Middle Georgia, the worst-hit cities were Macon and Montezuma. In Macon, parts of downtown were flooded and the water supply was lost for many days as flooding inundated the water plant. In Montezuma, flood waters topped the levee and flooded much of downtown. Overall, flash flooding and flooding caused by the rainfall from Alberto took 33 lives, destroyed thousands of homes, including entire communities, forced approximately 50,000 people to be evacuated, and caused property damage estimated at $750 million. Approximately two-thirds of the deaths were related to vehicular incidents.

The Weather Forecast Offices and the Southeast River Forecast Center of the National Weather Service (NWS) played critical roles in getting the word out to the record crests that were expected. Peak flood stages from Alberto in the NWS Peachtree City's area of responsibility were:

River		Location	Alberto Record (feet)	Old Record (feet)
Flint 		Culloden	45.73 			38.40  (3/5/1929)
Flint		Montezuma	34.11			27.40 (3/17/1929)
Ocmulgee	Macon		35.30			29.83 (3/19/1990)
Ocmulgee	Hawkinsville	40.91			36.50 (1/21/1925)
Ocmulgee	Abbeville	23.10			20.30 (1/23/1925)
Ocmulgee	Lumber City	24.59			26.30 (1/21/1925)