Our Flood Week Story

I don't even know where to begin. I think a day by day run down may be the easiest. I can't guarantee that everything will be on the correct day, but you'll get the idea.

Monday
I was supposed to volunteer at our church's VBS this week, teaching one of the kindergarten classes. However, the day before it became evident that the flooding was only going to get worse. They decided to go ahead with VBS, but Dan suggested I stay home and start getting things ready in our house to either be put up high or moved out. The first thing I removed from the house was our photo albums and other pictures. I knew our wedding album would be irreplaceable, and I've been working on a photo album for Sylvia that I've put a lot of work into. I think those actually left the house on Sunday. My mom came over all day Monday and helped me clean. We got things put away that were out and about so that it would be easy for people to come in and lift our furniture up on blocks. I also put Sylvia's birth certificate, social security card, and the license to our new car in our safety deposit box. Dan laughed at me because I got all of our Goodwill stuff and garbage out of the house. My reasoning was that it would be easier to clean up our house afterward if there was less stuff in it. At this point I don't know whether or not we knew we'd be getting water in our house.

Tuesday
I continued work on our house and then headed over to church to relocate my office. The church secured a location on the east side of town. We moved out our computers and other things we knew we'd need in the near future to continue work. I got all of my preschool documents out of the building as well as our file cabinet full of lesson plan ideas. That evening, a couple of friends and some of Dan's co-workers came over with blocks. We cleaned out a lot of junk in the garage and put most of our furniture up 16 inches high. After that people headed down the street to sandbag. A sandbag levee was built behind all of the houses on Normandy in hopes to keep the water out of the entire neighborhood. If this flood has been the same as 1993, the levee would have been able to keep the water out.

Wednesday
Wednesday morning I hung out at the house. We just got Sylvia's 6 month photos back so I wrote letters to family members and stuck them in the mail. It was nice to just hang out at the house and not be preparing for the flood. Looking back, I'm very thankful for that morning because I won't be doing that again in our home for a long time. We also got some more blocks for the remaining things that needed to be raised up including our couch, bed, and dressers. Some of Dan's co-workers helped sandbag in our neighborhood that evening. Sylvia and I walked around and checked out all the work people were doing. She sure does attract a lot attention! We made a few frozen pizzas in appreciation. That night, I went to the grocery to stock up on more pizza and lots of drinks so we could feed a group the following night if needed. As we went to bed Wednesday night, Dan told me that he wanted me to get up early and start packing the things we would need while we were away from the house.

Thursday
We woke up early and Dan got ready for work. Sylvia was not up yet so I started getting clothes together. We heard on the news that Normandy Dr. was being evacuated. You have to drive on Normandy Dr. to get to our home but we were not being evacuated yet. Dan quickly decided that we should try to get as much out of the house as possible but it still wasn't completely urgent. We just knew that the water was going up. He headed to work but after a couple of hours realized that we didn't have as much time as thought and headed back home. My parents came over early and started loading things into their cars. Dan's parents also joined us. We carried anything and everything out that we could fit into the cars. We loaded our truck twice with larger items. We were able to remove our new couch and chair, my cedar chest with all of my Christmas decorations and ornaments, and Sylvia's crib and dresser. Around 11:30, Dan told me that I had to get out with Sylvia so, after requesting an unneeded photo, I drove the loaded truck out and headed to Dan's parents'. I had no idea that the water at the end of our street was already more than a foot deep. It was a little scary to drive through, especially with Sylvia in the car. Dan, my parents, and Dan's dad stayed behind to finish a few things, but that quickly turned into a few more hours of work when cops came by and said it was time to evacuate. They were planning on coming back after lunch but that was no longer an option. My mom moved everything in our kitchen up higher as well as answering all of my phone calls each time I thought of something else that either needed to be put up high or brought with. The three guys worked on putting more blocks under all of the furniture that was already 16 inches up. I took a nap with Sylvia at Dan's parents', we ate a late lunch when the others arrived, and then we headed off to church to raise up my desk. When we got to church, they were loading up everything they could into semi trailers. We quickly got to work taking everything we could out of the preschool and onto the semis. Again, we were able to save a lot but there were some things we had to leave behind. That night, Dan and I laid in bed with Sylvia on our tummies. She was smiling and laughing at us. She is helping us through one of the hardest times of our lives. It's hard to look into our sweet little girl's eyes and be too upset about anything.

Friday & Saturday
Dan went back to work and I stayed at his parents' with Sylvia. Throughout the week we heard rumors that we might be able to get flood insurance. Another one arose on Friday and I followed up on the lead. However, it also turned out to be untrue. Since being evacuated, my dad has returned to our house a few times to bring some other things out and raise up some important things that were left behind. He had some help from other friends who will remain unnamed. By Saturday evening, the water had risen to 22 inches inside of our house.

Sunday
We went to church this morning at West High School. After church, we ate lunch with my parents and drove around town looking at the flood waters. The river has now crested at 31.5 feet which is lower than the predicted 33 feet. Hopefully the rain will hold off and the water level will begin to go down. We will probably be able to get back into our home in the next week or so but we won't be moving back in for awhile. While watching the news this evening, we saw helicopter footage of our neighborhood. We got to see our house just briefly. There's a lot of water.