Imagery
In the opening paragraph, the authors help the readers visualize the rescuers searching "water-logged houses", while floating down the streets in "mucky red-brown waters." Readers see "spewed sewage in the Chattahoochee River" as a huge problem. Saying that the flood caused significant damage to a sewage plant doesn't help the columnist keep our attention like spewed sewage does.
Overstatement
The word "deluge" used in the first paragraph references the great flood in the Bible. Comparing Georgia's flood with the one that covered the whole earth makes the circumstances in Georgia seem much more bleak.
Metaphor
"The basement was an aquarium,” was quoted from a well known doctor in the area. I say he was well known because he was my doctor on two occasions. I'm sure that his basement wasn't literally transformed into an aquarium, but readers see the connection between what a basement should look like and what aquariums are.
Click to see the video: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/09/22/multimedia/1247464768531/georgia-floods.html
Mike Stanley
I liked how you used an article about what's going on in your hometown. It makes it more personal and interesting for you to read and analyze something that you care about. I really liked your overstatement analysis. Good job for catching that word and finding out what it really means! I had no idea what that word was so it was definitely beneficial to read your analysis on the article to understand it was an overstatement.
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