We are still here, high, dry, and sane! And SO very thankful. Several neighborhoods were evacuated -- I assume homes were damaged, but I've not heard anything yet --, and one poor lady was killed when her car was washed away in flood waters.
I have been very impressed with the city's response. It seemed we all learned something last flood. There have been constant updates and monitoring, as well as upkeep of the creek beds where all of this water drains away from our city. We have gotten two "reverse 9-1-1" phone calls. They weren't horribly informative (be prepared to evacuate, Elm Creek may spill over its banks in 3-4 hours) but it at least made me realize I may want to pay attention to the news/weather -- which I hadn't been doing.
In case you are wondering, yes, I made a few preparations "in case". The kids are in Louisiana with Nonna and Grandad, so I went into their rooms and made sure all clothes and any electrical item -- CD player, etc. -- were off the floor. (Kids -- a)you have some things to take off of your bed when you get home and b)we need to have a little conference about the fact that you aren't supposed to eat in your rooms...) One thing that I learned last flood -- any dirty clothes on the floor, in baskets, whatever -- I had realized they were there, but thought, "I can wash those" -- yes, you can wash them until the creek runs dry and they will still be UT burnt orange due to the red clay mud that washes in with the flood waters. So I picked up dirty clothes baskets off the floor. I put some things in the bathtubs to keep them dry. I also made sure any clothes in closets that still touched the floor were up off the ground. In my closet, I put Rubbermaid tubs on the floor and put the ends of the clothes in there.
There were three things that I didn't get to, but could have done "last minute" (unless we were prevented from returning to our home after church, like some people in the evacuation area were). I hadn't yet gotten my scrapbooks off of the bottom shelf of the bookcase, I hadn't unplugged the computer tower and picked it up -- way too many cords -- and I didn't get the kids' gamecube and that other thing we have -- playstation? something --out of the bottom of the entertainment cabinet. And if the water got deep enough -- it would have all been gone anyway.
Dean is expected to bring even more rain next weekend. I can't spend my week worried and stressed. Here's what I know: if your area is declared a federal disaster, FEMA will buy your home from you at (pre-disaster) appraised value. However, they do that so that they can flatten what's there, and NO BUILDING may ever be built there again. They figure a one-time purchase of a home in a disaster-prone area is cheaper than bailing people out every 3-6 years (and they're right!) Anyway, my neighbor and I decided that if we flood, we will load up what's left, say "Thank you very much" to FEMA for the purchase of our home, and we'll let the neighborhood remember us fondly when they build a park, volleyball court, retention pond, or neighborhood pool on our two lots.
And through it all, God is faithful!
