Friday, September 9, 2011

And The Rains Came Down

For the majority of my life, I have lived in a desert climate.
(OK, I spent 3 years in Bogota, Colombia which is the opposite of desert, but that was only 3 years).
I am used to dry, dry, dry.
And very little rain.
Which is probably why I usually like the rain.
I love a good thunderstorm!
Until now.
It was rained everyday for the past, well, I have lost count of how many days.
And not on and off rain, but constant, steady, never-ending rain.
We saw the sun for the first time yesterday!
According to the news, we received about 8 inches of rain in one and a half days. 
And yesterday, this is what our area looked like:

Schools were closed early on Wednesday, and we haven't been back since.
We were lucky.
We only had 6 inches of water in our basement, which is not finished.
We do have a lot of cleaning to do, but most of the stuff down there is replaceable, and not very expensive.
I have friends who had almost a foot of water on the main floor of their house.
Many have been evacuated, and cannot return to their homes.
One of the most frustrating things for me has been that I can't get to my friends that need help.  The flooding has closed most of the roads the connect our small communities, so we are all essentially islands for the time being.  Just know that even though we can't get there physically, we are constantly thinking and praying for you.
While living in Utah, any time it would rain, there would always be at least one person to thank God during a Sunday prayer for the moisture that we had received.
Thinking about that made me laugh just a bit as we saw all the moisture we had accumulated.
I will also probably never enjoy the sound of rain on my roof as I fall asleep either.

1 comment:

Marie said...

Well written. I may have to replace a family room carpet in my basement and we haven't started clean up yet. But I have friends that are evacuated and there basements have a foot of water. I agree about being cut off and not being able to help others. But it is a test in preparedness thats for sure.