Cleanup is continuing in the town of McCaysville, Georgia, after another round of devastating floods destroyed homes and stranded residents overnight.
A state of emergency has been declared for the area as crews work to pick up debris and repair the damage.
Wednesday night's flooding came just a few months after the previous flood left the town picking up the pieces. McCaysville Police Chief Michael Otis Earley said they had just reopened some of its businesses and government buildings last week.
McCaysville resident Billy Paschall said he spent hours trapped on his porch as floodwater rose around his home on Tennessee Avenue.
"It's been terrible, man, I lost everything," Paschall said.
CBS News Atlanta met Paschall on Thursday at an American Red Cross shelter in Blue Ridge. He said he has lived along the Toccoa River for 10 years.
≈ said flash flood warnings are common in the area, so he wasn't initially worried. That changed when McCaysville police knocked on his door and told him to pack a bag.
Paschall said he moved one vehicle across the street to higher ground. By the time he returned for his truck, the water was already too high.
He grabbed his wallet, cellphone, and keys and sealed them in a Ziploc bag. When he opened his front door, water poured inside.
Paschall said he stepped onto his porch, where his cats were hiding on top of small cat houses.
"Cats don't like water. So, they're freaking. I mean, totally freaking out," he said.
Paschall said he called his landlord, who called police. Officers sent a boat to rescue him.
"God bless them. Without them, I wouldn't be here," he said.
He said officers pulled his cats into the boat with him. A neighbor across the street is now caring for two of them. His cat Cricket, a 3-year-old yellow female, is still missing.
"She's my little girl," Paschall said.
Paschall said he lost three vehicles in the flood. He works at Walmart, and he said the company gave him clothes, shoes, and money.
"Thank God. I called them this morning," Paschall said.
He said he hoped to find a place to stay Thursday night. If not, he said, he would stay at the shelter, which he said has been "good as gold" to him.
Paschall said his faith carried him through the flood, saying it "took the Lord to get me off that porch this morning."
He said his last prayer at the shelter was for his missing cat.
"The last one I said in the house here was praying for my little Cricket," Paschall said.
