It was 3 years ago TODAY that my wife and I experienced a nightmare. It had been raining for a couple days and on this peticular day I almost had my wife convinced to just stay home because I didnt want her to drive in what became a blinding rainstorm. Well, we both went onto work and she did make it to work ok. It was just a couple hours later, we were hearing reports of some localized flooding and there were some road closures. And the storms kepts dumping INCHES of rain all morning adding to the problem. Then at about 11am or so, we got word that a levee had given way and that SEVERAL FEET of water was rushing through a neighborhood in our little town. At this time we still didnt know exactly where but were certainly concerned. Shortly, we got reports that there were swift water rescuses being made at the local nursing home because of the levee break. We had just moved into a place DIRECTLY BEHIND the nursing home one week previous to this dreadful day. Panic began to settle in as we knew our home along with about a dozen or more were in the direct path of that water. The worst part at the time was knowing that our dog KIKI was at home by herself. ~ Neither one of us could leave work early to get home to see how bad the flooding was (we still didnt know it was FEET of water) or if our dog was ok. Finally it was 3pm and I got off work and headed towards home to see how bad things were. The localized flooding had several roads closed and I had tried 3 or 4 different ways to get into town with no luck. The police and fire departments were turning people around everywhere saying, You cannot get in and we dont when residents would be allowed back in. Well, my wife got off work at 5 so with no luck getting into town I headed north to go pick her up. It was already very dark because of the storms but even at 5pm it looked like it was almost dusk. I picked up Anne and we rushed back to our little town to see if we could get in. We tried a couple different ways and the third attempt an officer we could enter but at our own risk. It was a risk we knew we had to take because we needed to get home and see if there was anything left, but more importantly if our dog was ok. At this point Anne is all but histerical as we finally made our way to our street and what we saw was something out of the movies. Absolute destruction is the best description I can use to express what we saw. Belongings from neighbors homes scattered everywhere was our first visual. Then we got to our driveway and saw that the 6 feet of water was so strong in had just about pushed the garage door inward and our front door was off its hinges. I didnt even have the car in park when Anne started screaming for our dog and was almost out of the car headed to the door. I stopped her and told her that I would wade through the almost 2 feet of standing water to find our dog. Anne was distraught. KIKI was her baby and she just knew that she didnt make it. I could barely see, as it was now almost dark, as I entered our home and called out KIKIs name several times with no response. My heart sunk. I just knew that I was either going to find our dog dead or maybe not find her at all. I few more calls of her name and a small woof could be heard from the back of the house. The hair on my the back of my neck stood on end, I called again and this time there was a louder bark. I waded though the house tripping over lamps, chairs, even logs feeling my way along the wall as I made my way down the hall to our bedroom. KIKI was a very smart dog. She had jumped up onto our bed, which wasnt an easy task as she was small with short legs and stayed there as the water level in our home rose to almost 6 feet floating the matress almost to the ceiling. Our baby, had survived. ~ We stayed in a hotel that night and went back to see things in the daylight the next day. Undiscribable. We also had a bird and even a gold fish that had survived! Everything else was gone. On this day 3 years ago, one week after moving into our new home, we lost everything we had except for the clothes we wore to work that day. We didnt know what we were going to to do. I had a great network of friends here on Facebook and put out a plea for help. In just hours, the love started pouring in from family, friends and even strangers. There are too many names to mention here but we had a friend in Colorado order pizza from a local Dominos and had it delivered and then a family who were total strangers to us at the time sent a message asking us if we could meet that they wanted to help us. We agreed and drove 45 minutes to meet and were shocked when this family handed us an envelope with money inside. I wont mention the amount but it was a 4 digit amount with three 0s. We cryed in appreciation and awe of the love and support that came from so many during our darkest days. This is what brought about my personal desire to help with disaster relief and recovery whenever and where I can. So, if you are ever affected by a disaster, you can know that I am somewhere in the background doing all I can to help get you food, clothing, supplies and helping your entire town, city and neighborhood recover. We have been there and we understand. April 25, 2011 ~ A day we will never forget.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 20:38:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015