ATLANTA , Georgia ( CNN ) -- With at least five people dead and massive expanses of land and roads under water , Georgia 's governor declared a state of emergency Monday in the 17 counties hardest hit by flooding from severe weather . Atlanta firefighter Stephen Webb carries a dog to safety Monday at the Peachtree Park Apartments . Gov . Sonny Perdue 's announcement followed three deaths in north Georgia 's Douglas County , one death in Gwinnett County and another in Carroll County , where a 2-year-old child was ripped from her father 's arms by fierce floodwaters while he struggled to hold on to bushes , officials said . Those counties , near Atlanta , were among the 17 included in the state-of-emergency declaration . About 100 miles north of Atlanta , in Chattanooga , Tennessee , one person was swept into rushing water and is presumed drowned , said Jeremy Heidt , a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency in Nashville . Three missing children in Douglas County , west of Atlanta , were found , but their mother was one of the flood 's fatalities , said Dena Brummer , a spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency . `` We 're in rescue-and-recovery mode , '' said Wes Tallon , spokesman for fire and emergency management services in Douglas County . `` It has not stopped raining , and another line of thunderstorms is coming . '' Watch flooding one CNN.com staffer recorded » . Until just a few months ago , the area was gripped by drought . Watch what caused the torrential rain » . Several storms moving northeast from the Gulf of Mexico brought the downpours , which forecasters expected to continue through Monday night . Rains were expected to taper off by Tuesday morning but scattered showers were expected for the next couple of days . Just west of Atlanta , some areas have received about 22 inches of rain since last week , CNN meteorologists reported . About 12 of those inches fell in a 12-hour period from Sunday night to Monday morning . After Georgia creeks and rivers burst , swollen by days of rain , residents struggled to escape . In Cobb County 's Austell , two rescuers paddled their way through rising flood waters searching for stranded victims , video from CNN affiliate WXIA showed . The pair on the inflatable , yellow raft ushered a stranded woman to a section of black-tarred street that was not under water . Nearby , three men pushed their valuables in a kayak as they waded through the shoulder-high muddy waters . Another two men floated on what looked like air mattresses linked together by rope . Watch men float on inflatable mattresses » . Near Marietta northwest of Atlanta , a flooded bridge blocked the only road out of a residential area surrounded by a national park and the Chattahoochee River . Two buses picked up elementary school children Monday morning , but flooding prevented them from picking up older students later , and the buses could n't return with the first batch in the afternoon , said iReporter Pritam Jaipuriar , who lives there . See Pritam Jaipuriar 's iReport . Some elementary students used a walking trail -- the only other path out of the area -- to return home . Some parents arranged for friends beyond the bridge to pick their children up from school and keep them for the day . `` My first-grader son is staying with a friend of mine , '' said Jaipuriar , who was unable to go to work Monday . Some ground-level apartments in the area were flooded , but his unit was fine , he said . Unable to drive for supplies , some residents walked the path to a store a few miles away and returned with bags of groceries , said iReporter Jeff Cofer , who also lives there . See Jeff Cofer 's iReport . Near northwest Atlanta 's Vinings area , floodwaters encroached upon multimillion-dollar houses . Rescue personnel rode in boats over flooded streets Monday night , going home to home to pick up residents and take them away . Water levels were high enough at one home that the people there stood on a roof to await rescuers , a fire and rescue official said . On Monday morning , a couple inches of water had entered the Villa Rica , Georgia , home of iReporter Walid Zeid , damaging suitcases and other things that were on the floor . Water from a flooded lake lifted his boat to the roof of his boathouse , crushing the boat 's canopy , Zeid 's iReport video showed . Zeid , a flight attendant , was supposed to be on an international flight Monday , but flooding prevented him and his family from leaving home , which is in Carroll County . See Walid Zeid 's iReport . `` You ca n't go anywhere . The roads are washed up , '' he said . The flooding from torrential rains drenching the metropolitan Atlanta area `` has to rank as one of the worst , '' Matt Sena of the Peachtree City , Georgia , National Weather Service told CNN . Watch home 's yard become a lake » . Atlanta 's Hartsfield International Airport in five days has received about 4.5 inches more rain than it usually would in all of September , he said . iReport.com : Floodwaters seep into Carroll County home . `` Hundreds of roads have been closed '' in the Atlanta area , Brummer said , adding that Carroll , Douglas and Paulding counties `` have been impacted the most . '' Watch I-75/85 under water » . Two of the Georgia fatalities involved people trying to drive through floodwater . A vehicle with one man in it was swept off a road in Douglas County , and a car carrying a woman was swept off a road in Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County , east of Atlanta , Brummer said . Seydi Burciaga , 39 , was driving to her Lawrenceville home from work when flash flooding trapped her in her vehicle , Gwinnett County police said . She called 911 and police tried to locate her , but Burciaga could not tell them exactly where she was . Floodwater moved her car about 500 feet after she was swept off the roadway , and her attempts to guide rescuers to her by mentioning landmarks were unsuccessful , police said . By the time rescuers found her minivan , she was dead , police said . In Tennessee , the presumed drowning victim was forced into a culvert , or underground storm water drain , about 6 p.m. Sunday , Chattanooga Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner told CNN . Sylvester Kitchens Jr. , 46 , was with a friend , Albert Miller , when the two decided to swim in a large , flooded ditch , Garner said . He said a Miller family member told him that `` basically it was a bet . '' Both managed to grab onto a chain link fence while being buffeted by the strong current , Garner said . A neighbor threw a garden hose for them to grab onto , and Kitchens reached for it but was unable to hold on . Miller clung to the fence for about 20 minutes and was eventually rescued by firefighters , Garner said . Kitchens ' body has not been found , said Garner , who added that it `` does n't appear he could 've survived . '' CNN 's Mallory Simon , Nicole Saidi and Jason Hanna contributed to this report .
Georgia 's governor declares emergency in 17 counties . Girl who was swept from father 's car is among those killed in Georgia . Person in car plunged into the water , presumed drowned , official says . Hundreds of roads closed , official says ; more rain expected before finally ending .