Severe flooding in the north part of the US state of Georgia has killed nine people, leaving massive expanses of land and roads under water, local officials said on Tuesday.

Residents keep an eye on the water as they drive their truck across a flooded road from their subdivision, which was cut off due to flooding from heavy rains, in Lawrenceville, Georgia September 22, 2009. [Xinhua]

Governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency on Monday in the 17 counties hardest hit by the flooding from severe weather. On Tuesday, he asked President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency in Georgia and urged residents to stay away from flooded areas.

"This has been a 48-hour ordeal," Perdue told reporters on Tuesday. "We're no match for the kind of force water can put upon us."

Perdue said he has asked President Obama for emergency federal relief funds to help deal with the flooding, which a state climatologist said was the worst in 100 years in some parts of the state capital Atlanta.

Two boys run through a flooded street caused by heavy rains in Lawrenceville, Georgia, September 22, 2009. [Xinhua]

According to officials with Georgia Emergency Management Agency, days of heavy rain swelled the Chattahoochee River to overflowing. Some places saw as much as 15 inches (38 cm) of rain over three days.

The floodwater has swept over 1,000 homes, leaving 30,000 people without power, state officials said. Some interstate highways through Atlanta were also closed.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2009)