I'm Back!!! Very long-about Flood

[DianaB]

In case you missed pictures of our flood here's a news clip that I found. A lot of the photos are from my area are places that I drive by when I go to town. The man that is interviewed is a friend of ours.

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/vi...2&tab=3&nav=84

Well, we've had a very stressful time since I was on 4WT last. Soon after I last posted our electricity went off and we had solid rain all night long. I heard that we had 13 inches in the night, 21 inches in all in a 36 hour period. In my last post I showed pictures of the flood that we were having and the fun that we were having in the flood with the jet-ski. We haven't had much fun since.

Let me explain that when we have a flood that it usually last 24 hours. We have a dam several miles upstream that is for flood control but in having 21 inches of rain there wasn't much it could do except hold back water from up above it. The water that fell below the dam still had to go somewhere. I live 1/3 mile from Fall River named that because it rises and falls very quickly. The homes in the video had water one day but it had drained out the next day. It's unreal that it can do that but that's the way it is here.

My son's home had 4-6 inches of water in it, but we're felling very blessed because it could have been so much worse. Saturday it had water, Sunday the family pulled out the carpet and started drying it out. My husband and son stayed at my son's house Friday night when it began raining so hard to move furniture upstairs or just moved up on top of other things. Then they moved to my father and mother-in-laws home. The water didn't get in there but did in a neighbor's home across the street. Again, just a few inches.

Before we built our home we lived in the river valley (we're on a hill now and wasn't even close to the water) and after we moved we were able to finally buy the place so my husband's work shop is still there. Our shop had about 9 feet of water in it. My husband had driven a couple of tractors up here to the house but left a couple at the shop with his combine. We had lived by the shop for 19 years and had been there in a really bad flood in 1986 so we thought we knew about the highest the water would probably get, but we were wrong. We have tools and everything imaginable that floated or was swept out of the shop and is scattered throughout the field towards the river. We had two huge gas barrels up on stands that were washed to the middle of the field. We even have tractor tires that are gone.

My husband is really stressed over all of this. We've had a hard year anyway because of the rain. He had finally gotten most of our fields planted and almost all of them were under water so we'll just have to wait and see what happens to our crops. He's been at the shop ever since the water went down, draining out tractors and trying to get them working again. One is going to be alright the others we're not sure. There is a layer of really fine mud over everything and in everything and it's so slick. I've fallen twice so I'm waiting until it gets a little dryer to go out.

We have some friends that live in a two story home near our shop and by the river. My husband got a call on Saturday to come and get them. (Communication was hard because all we had was cell phones and the weren't working very good and no one had car chargers handy. BTW-if you don't have a car charger for your cell-phone--GET ONE! That was the ONLY way that we had to charge our phones.)
My son and husband got the jet-ski and pulled a fishing boat behind them to get to their house and rescued them off of their porch roof. The next day the water was out of there house and we went over and there's pictures of where they were at. There are a lot of stories about people being chest deep before help came.

Sunday morning my daughter and I got on our four-wheelers and drove around a little. There's a road that goes to a very small town nearby and we went to see how it was. The water had run across it so quickly that it washed almost all of the gravel off of it and had started making holes. We drove down to the north end of the road and there was a huge hole with a pickup in it! The front end was completely in the hole and the back end wasn't in as far. I suppose that someone had driven across when the water was up and didn't know that the water had made such a big hole. I bet that it was pretty scary for the driver.

We have a lot of road damage from the water moving so swiftly across the road. We have bridges that the water washed out from around the sides. It's going to be awhile before everything is repaired, but I heard that FEMA is going to come in and help get everything repaired.

Town was hit hard with several houses having water damage. The man who is interviewed in the video is the father of the woman that my husband got off of the porch roof.

We got our electricity back on after a couple of days but then our water went out. The flood went over our water plant and we don't know how long it will be out. FEMA has tanker trucks hauling water in and are putting it into the system so we have minimal water and it has to be boiled. We were called before the water completely ran out and I have large containers of water sitting around and both bathtubs filled. We're not to wash clothes or run the dishwasher or take long showers. My family has been bathing in a pond that's here by the house. Our firework stands were shut down because if there was a fire the city wouldn't have enough water to put it out and fireworks that were already bought can't be shot. So it's not much of a holiday for our community, but at least no one lost their life. We have much to be thankful for but it's hard right now for a lot of people.

I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures of when the water was high. I might be able to get some from my son. I was told to stay home where it was safe. Here's a few that I took afterwards.

1. My husband showing again how high the water got on the old house where we used to live. In '86 it only came up to the foundation of the house.
2. Oops! I got the wrong picture! This was inside of the old house. The water had floated the tire on top of a dryer and the can ended up propping the tire up.
3. My husband showing with a stick how high the water got on the grain wagon.

[DianaB]

Here's some more picts.

1. This is my husband's fuel tanks that have floated out into the field. The shop is in the back ground.
2. This corn field had a wheat field across the road. The water piled up the wheat straw and pushed over the corn.
3. Here's a tree and a stump that floated into the field.
4. My husband showing how high the water got on his tractor.

[DianaB]

And even more picts.

1. This is the porch roof that my husband and son got the neighbors from. They crawled out the middle window to get out. Can you believe that the water was up to the second story just the day before?
2. This is the neighbor's grain bin. The water made the grain swell and the bin split. My brother-in-law had one do this but this one looks a lot worse.
3 &4. More grain bin pictures.

[DianaB]

Oops! I forgot to add the pictures!!!!

[Tink]

What a scary mess Diana!
I'm so glad you're all ok.

[AngieDoogles]

Oh Diana! I'm so sorry this has caused so much trouble for you and your family!! That's awful about your crops and machinery and your son's home...and just everything! *hugs* We will keep you, your family, and your community in our thoughts and prayers.

[Marilyn]

Diana, this is amazing. Soooo glad you don't live in your old house any more!!! Also, hope your tractors will be okay & that you are able to find everything that is missing. What a mess!!!! My heart goes out to you and your community!! I grew up on a farm, so I know how devistating this is to your crops. My prayers are with you all.

It's still raining here. Most farmers here are trying to harvest, so you know what this is doing to them. Roads are still closed, and some folks have water in their homes. We live in a subdivision that drains very well, and we are not in danger of river or creek flooding. Others are not so fortunate. Hubby's building business is practically shutdown until the rain stops & things dry up a bit. Even homes that are "dried in" are waiting for sheetrock that can't be delivered. Most delivery trucks here are open, flatbeds since our weather is usually pretty nice.

Take care!!!!

[DianaB]

Thanks everyone for your concern. Yesterday was a hard day for me and I finally broke down and cried. I drove to town and several homes close to town have all their belongings out in the yard drying. It was so sad because I know all of them. My daughters are tired of mucking around in the mud at the shop and wanted to do other things yesterday, but when I asked my husband if they could go and do something else I could tell that he wasn't very happy about it. I know that he's very stressed, but I feel that I'm in the middle trying to keep everyone happy and it just hit me hard yesterday.

We keep hearing different reports about our water. We have water for now, but a valve was accidentally left on that is now shut off so our water could go off at any time. A portable water treatment plant is coming in sometime to help out but, again, it's uncertain how soon it will be up and running. The water plant, I've heard, is going to take months to get up and going again. I haven't done any laundry since this all started so I'm going to have to drive out of town to get to a laundry mat. I just need to find out who has water and who doesn't. I may go this afternoon or tomorrow.

My husband's got one tractor running and another one that he had apart is running too. He was pretty happy about getting them going. He still has the combine to work on. He's been told to keep track of all that he's lost (we had tractor tires that washed away!!!) and we will be able to get a low interest disaster loan.

My husband thinks that we'll be working ground in a few days. We still have some crops to get in.

[Lissa]

Wow, that's amazing. It's so good that yall don't live in the old house anymore, that would have been terrifying!!! I'm glad you are all okay though. Belongings can be replaced, but not lives.

I never thought that a grain bin would do that...makes sense though.

And I REALLY hope this all doesn't last into the Fall.