The park downhill from the center of Atlanta has a playground, a splash pad, pavilions for parties, basketball courts, winding walking paths — and, perhaps most important to many residents, a field of open land in a neighborhood that had long been starved for green space. But a year ago, the reason for the park’s existence revealed itself yet again: Hurricane Helene unleashed a deluge on Georgia. Much of the 16-acre park, named for Rodney Cook Sr., a longtime local politician, was submerged. The neighborhood around it was not. “Nine million gallons of water — had it not been collected, it would have been filling the streets.”50 States, 50 Fixes is a series about local solutions to environmental problems.