Torrential rains that have already led to at least half a dozen deaths in the Southeast have now produced flooding that overwhelmed a water treatment plant in Atlanta this morning, "causing a massive dump of raw sewage" into the Chattahoochee River, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

According to the newspaper, "the R.M. Clayton plant is the largest in Georgia with capacity to treat 240 million gallons of sewage a day."

One bit of good news: Lake Lanier, which supplies most of Atlanta's water, has been partly replenished.