Even the dead have not been allowed to rest in peace during the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Alberto.
In cemeteries in Hawkinsville, Albany and other locales along the rampaging Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers, hundreds of coffins have literally popped out of the ground, forced from their resting places by floodwaters that filled concrete burial vaults and floated their contents.In many cases, the coffins pushed up thick concrete slabs capping the vaults.
Moving water separated the coffins from their headstones and burial plots, creating retrieval problems for rescue workers and ongoing problems of how to identify the dead whose graves were disturbed.
Because of danger from bacteria, state health officials advised anyone exposed to the coffins to be immunized against tetanus and diphtheria.
Dougherty County Coroner Robert L. Brookshier Jr. said the process will take months. He said 216 coffins had been recovered from two city cemeteries in Albany by late Tuesday, and rescue workers were trying to retrieve others. Retrieval efforts were hampered by deep, swift waters.
State and federal forensic experts and funeral directors from all over Georgia will help identify and rebury the dead, Brookshier said. In some cases, funeral homes can cross-reference brand-names of coffin manufacturers with purchasers' names.
In Hawkinsville, where six coffins surfaced at Orange Hill Cemetery, Pulaski County Coroner Charles Young said all have been identified.
At the flood's peak in Pulaski, all but the tallest tombstones at Orange Hill were buried beneath dirty water.