The Great Flood

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. Our county, along with several of the surrounding counties, are cleaning up from massive flooding and some are predicting that this process could take several years. There are so many things on my mind... I hurt for my community and so many around me.. strangers and friends, alike. I'm at a loss for the right words.

I guess this all started early this week when the rain came. It was pouring and pouring day after day and it seemed to be non-stop. Brooke's first day of Pre-K (which seems like such a blur now) was on Wednesday and that's the whole flooding situation kind of came to a head. All the schools sent children home early and people were told to get to a safe place. We had been hearing of evacuations but my family and I were seemingly safe in our home. We have a sump pump that keeps water out of our unfinished basement (which only houses our hot water heater and furnace) and we figured that we would remain unscathed from all of the rain unless we lost power. Well, at about 11 P.M. that night the power died and John and I were frantically in the basement bailing out water with buckets, trying to save our furnace. It was not fun!

At around midnight we heard a siren sound in our village and we were kind of curious about what was going on but just kind of passed it off. Then, we heard someone knocking at our door telling us that we needed to evacuate to higher ground. It was very scary and we had to leave our basement, pack a few necessities, and wake up the girls. It was one of the worst couple of hours of my life! We went to the elementary school that's up on a hill in our town and there was no generator, no beds, and nothing to eat or drink . It was the most horrible and restless night I think I've ever had.

The next morning the rain had finally stopped. Our mayor came and told us that our town levy was not expected to withstand the crazy amounts of rains and that we should brace ourselves to lose everything. We were then told that if we wanted to go to our homes and get a few things we had about a half an hour before we had to either find a way out of town or go back up to the school. Let me tell you, rummaging through my home trying to decide what was important and what wasn't was the worst feeling ever. I ultimately decided to just grab the basics because I couldn't think of all of the sentimental things.

We got in the car and just drove. There were flooded roads everywhere and finding ways around was almost impossible. Looking at my family in the car and realizing that our lives might never be the same was very, very challenging as a mother. I can't even express how horrified I was but I had to try to hold it together for the girls. After a long, long drive we ended up at John's parents' house where they had power, internet, etc...

The story ends happily... For us, anyways. The levy shockingly held, despite the fact that it was no supposed to. We may have lost of furnace (but won't know for sure until power is restored) and will be without power and water for up to 2 weeks or so. The circumstances aren't ideal but there are people around us who have lost every single thing they own. They have nothing but the clothes on their backs and no family to turn to. I'm staying with my parents for now because they have power and all and John doesn't feel comfortable leaving me home alone at night while he works because there have been looters coming through and stealing from people. It's just a really tough time right now. Food and gasoline are hard to access. Also, nobody even knows when schools will resume and some districts don't even have hopes of starting back up for at least months.

I'm so thankful that God spared my family and me from losing our home and every possession we have. However, there are so many that weren't spared and who have no hope of a "normal" life for quite some time. It's devastating. I cannot tell you how awful it is to see so many familiar surroundings immersed in water and so many people hurting. Please keep our little corner of the world up in your prayers as we rebuild and try to move towards a brighter future.