Get Out of Here! The Dam Broke!
A Day I’ll Never Forget
I said in my last blog part I would be diverting from my long story to tell about another event I will never forget. So here it is.
There was someone pounding on the other side of my room door and a voice saying, “Get out of here! The dam broke!” What? Outside the door I could hear the stomping of running feet. It was dark. The lights weren’t on in the hallway. Something had definitely happened. I looked at my wristwatch and saw it was close to 1:30 AM on November 6, 1977. I wanted to see proof that there was a flood so I got out my flashlight and shone it down from the top floor of the men’s dormitory — Forrest Hall — to the ground. Instead of seeing grass there, I saw water. I guess it was believable that there was flooding with water around the lower part of the dorm since it is located across the road from Toccoa Creek and it had been raining for at a few days. Someone told everyone in the dorm to go to LeTourneau Hall, one of the women’s dormitories. The women’s dorms sit higher up on the campus than the men’s and are a safe distance from Toccoa Creek. My roommate, Tim — a life long friend since third grade — and I walked up to the lobby of LeTourneau Hall to the sound of the bell near it ringing as an alarm since there was no electricity. Men and women gathered in the large lobby of the dorm and started praying for the safety of others on the campus, especially the married students in “Trailerville” which was located further downstream. Slowly through the night we were given reports as to what had happened and who was harmed. Not until many days later did many of us know the full extent of this horrific event. What a way to start our first semester of college!
Seated in northeast Georgia, at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the 1100 acre campus of Toccoa Falls College is both a private college and a tourist attraction. On the campus is a beautiful, 186 foot high water fall over which the water of Toccoa Creek falls.
Until forty years ago there was a man made 50 acre lake held in place by Kelly Barnes Dam a half mile upstream from the falls. The dam was 400 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 38 or 39 feet high. The drop from the dam to the top of the falls was 600 feet. In that lake were 176 million gallons of water. I was told it was a great lake for bass fishing.
The college is small and was smaller my first semester than it is now. There were only about 300 students which made everyone seem like family. Many of the single and married students lived on campus as well as many of the professors.
It had rained continuously for several days before the night of November 5th. In fact, that day we had received three and a half inches. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for a slight rise in the water of Toccoa Creek. There was, however, some concern for the dam. The men of the campus fire department made checks on the lake and dam, and three hours before the tragic event, all seemed safe. No water was up to the top of the dam or even close to the top.
After midnight that night, the water of Toccoa Creek started rising higher and was washing over the bridge to the married students’ trailer court. Then three men of the campus fire department working that night went door to door in Trailerville warning families of the rising water.
At about 1:25 AM, the water of Barnes Lake pushed so hard against the dam that it collapsed a 200 foot section of the middle. Rushing at an estimated 150 mph, the lake dropped over the 186 foot precipice and filled the small canyon before shooting like a hose towards the lower buildings on the campus as a five foot wall of water followed by a 30 foot wall moving at up to 120 mph while carrying boulders and trees. Guys in the dorm who were awake at the time said the water sounded like a freight train was coming. Those on the first floor had only several seconds to get out of their rooms and up the stairs to the second floor. Unfortunately, three guys never made it to safety. One man, who was in my English class, was supposedly outside pushing his motorcycle out of the rain when the water wall hit. Another never made it out of his bed and was found in the mud under his mattress. The one man was found a half mile down stream while the other was found five miles away.
Across the creek from Forrest Hall the water destroyed the home of the Dean of Men. He, his wife, and their two children had to ride out the water on debris as their house was slammed against the hill behind it.
Further down the stream many in Trailerville were trying to get away from the rising water, but with the walls of water hitting many did not make it to higher ground.
Fifteen minutes after the dam broke Stephens County Hospital sits near the entrance to Toccoa Falls College, was radioed that the dam had broken and to expect to receive many injured people.
By two o’clock that morning people started moving in to help. The Civil Defense Unit, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and many other volunteers from several counties. The body of one Forrest Hall resident was discovered by searchers shortly after three. At 4 AM we were told that 10 people had died, and as time went on, the number kept increasing. Later that morning, the local amateur radio club came in with an RV setup with RTTY equipment to get out messages from students to their families as telephone service was impossible to use. (This did get my interest in amateur radio, and 15 years later I got my radio license.)
When I went outside of LeTourneau, after it was light, I saw what I could of the destruction. There were destroyed buildings such as the music building near our dorm. Students’ cars were thrown around like Matchbox cars in the hands of a toddler. The men’s dorm on the lowest floor was destroyed. The dean of men’s house across the creek from Forrest Hall was destroyed. Closer to the falls Gate Cottage, which had a restaurant and a gift shop, was gutted by the water, but was sturdy enough to remain standing and to be restored later. The bridge across Toccoa Creek to Gate Cottage was gone, as well as two other bridges further downstream. Also hard to forget was the awful smell.
At mid-morning the then governor of Georgia, George Busbee, came to survey the devastation, along with an entourage of news reporters from around the country. He declared Toccoa to be in a state of emergency. President Jimmy Carter would declare TFC a national disaster area the next day.
By dawn much of the world knew what had happened. ABC, CBS, NBC and the major newspapers around the world already had the story. So now my parents knew there had been this disaster, but not whether I was alive or dead. When they went to church that morning they still didn’t know my status, but Tim was able to get a message through to his mother, who went to the church to let my parents know I was okay. My cousin, Alan, who lives in Charlotte, NC, had tried to get through to the college to see if I was okay, but could not get through because Route 17 was closed. Route 17 goes by TFC and has a bridge going over Toccoa Creek. Much of the flood debris was piled again this bridge.
In the afternoon First Lady Rosalynn Carter arrived on the campus to see the damage and what needed to be done. At 4 PM the president of TFC, Kenn Opperman, held a meeting with us to tell us that the school would be closed until November 15. All of us were allowed to re-enter the dorms and gather some belongings before leaving. Many of us had some doubt that we would be able to return for a long time because of the extensive damage done to the campus.
By 5:30 PM, 38 of 39 bodies had beenfound.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
James 4:13–14 (ESV)
Some people whose vehicles weren’t destroyed went home immediately while those of us with no transportation home were transported by bus to Georgia Baptist Assembly that late afternoon.
Tim and I stayed at GBA one or two nights as we checked around for someone who might be headed to Pennsylvania. Fortunately, we did find someone and were able to get back to Williamsburg.
While at home for the ten days, I got a call from WTAJ asking if they could come and interview me about the flood. How they found out I was there, and why they didn’t call anyone else from the area who were at the college, I don’t know. So Jon McClintock and a cameraman came to my parents’ house and did an interview with me which aired on the news that evening.
When we got back to Georgia after the ten days we learned more details about all that had occurred that fateful night. Cost of damage was $2.8 million; 39 people were dead; 60 people were injured; 18 house trailers and two college buildings were destroyed; five houses and five college buildings were damaged.
The dead included:
KAREN ANDERSON, 29, a married student, and her children JOEY and BECKY, all of Toccoa Falls.
JERRY BRITTIN, 23, dormitory student, Olean, N. Y.
RUTH MOORE, 24, secretary of the Toccoa Falls College Alumni Association, and her infant son, JEREMIAH, both of Toccoa Falls.
BILL EHRENSBERGER, 28, volunteer fireman, his wife PEGGY, 27, and their children, ROBERT, CHRISTI and KENNY, all of Toccoa Falls.
TIA HARNER, 24, wife of a student, and her child, ROBBY, both of Toccoa Falls.
RICHARD SWIRES, 21, Akron, Ohio. He was engaged to be married on June 3, 1978.
MARY JO GINTHER, 26, and her children NANCY, BRENDA, RHONDA and TRACY, all of Toccoa Falls.
ELOISE PINNEY, 26, Toccoa Falls.
DAVID FLEDDERJOHANN, 30, volunteer fireman, Toccoa Falls. He was helping families in Trailerville to get to safety. His younger brother, Doyle, was a freshman and was in the room across the hall from me.
BETTY JEAN WOERNER, 40, secretary to the college president, and her daughter, DEBORAH, 16, both of Toccoa Falls. Deborah’s last words while trying to escape the flood water were, “Lord, I don’t want to die.”
CORY HANNA, 30, dormitory student, Vero Beach, Fla. He was in my freshman English class.
EDWARD PEPSNY, 36, theology professor, his wife, CAROL, 35, and their children PAUL and BONNIE, all of Toccoa Falls.
CASS METZGER, 28, and her son DERICK, originally from Boalsburg, PA.
CHRIS KEMP, 4, son of a college staff member, Toccoa Falls.
JAMIE VEER, 21 month old daughter of Sue Veer who was in my public speaking class.
MONROE RUPP, 75, Toccoa Falls.
DR. JERRY SPROULL, 45, Toccoa Falls. His last words were, “O God — it’s all in Your hands now.”
MELISSA, JOSLYN and JOANNA SPROULL, who were the daughters of Dr. Sproull.
PAUL WILLIAMS, about 76, Toccoa Falls. His body was not found until a month later.
MARY WILLIAMS, 75, 35 years on the college staff, Toccoa Falls.
In the latest issue of our college magazine, Connection, an article commemorating the flood on the 40th anniversary states that when digging around the path of the flood they are still finding items from that fateful day.
Up Next: I’ll Be Home For Christmas
