Tuesday Tales: The Rains Came Down

 

When we first looked at this little house on the lake, we asked about flooding issues, because, well, the lake is up close and personal. We were told that while that may have been an issue years ago, the lake has good drainage and flooding isn’t a problem. (And that is true!) Our inspector told us he found no signs of water damage on the house. (Although he also told us we had a good roof and that didn’t turn out to be the truest statement in world, so…)

                Therefore, we were most surprised when, two years ago, we found our living room carpet wet when the lake waters weren’t even all that high. That’s when we learned the yard didn’t have proper drains, and a saturated ground led to water in the house. We cleaned it up, hired a fantastic crew to add drains to the yard, and we’ve stayed dry ever since.

                And then came last week.

                We went to bed Tuesday night to a fantastic lightning show that was still showing off when we fell asleep. We knew it rained in the night. We might have even been aware that it rained ALL night. But we don’t have a rain gauge and we didn’t know it rained something like six or seven INCHES that night.

                We went to bed Wednesday night to a fantastic lightning show that was still showing off when we fell asleep. We knew it rained in the night. We might have even been aware that it rained ALL night. But we hadn’t bought a rain gauge in that 24 hours either, and we didn’t know it rained something like ANOTHER six or seven inches that night.

                I took Ryan to work Thursday morning, since his truck was in the shop, and I made my way to church to teach Bible study. Imagine my utter surprise when I arrived at church to find half our parking lot under water.

                I worked for an hour or so and as the time to start Bible study neared, no one showed up. One lady texted to say she had tried to get there but gave up and turned back home because she couldn’t find enough clear roads. Finally, one lady showed up and said the church road was under water in in two places. WHAT!? It hadn’t been an hour before!

                We elected to pray and leave without formally meeting. I picked my way back to my car – which was closer to the flooded part of the lot than it had been when I parked – and carefully made my way home. I was able to get through until I got near home, and then I encountered deep water on the highway. I’ve never seen ANY water on that highway. And it was deeeeep.

                It rained on and off, and I took pictures of the water outside our house, which was admittedly higher than I’d ever seen it. In fact, it was spilling over the rocks and getting closer to the patio. I sent the pictures to Ryan who asked me to come get him so we could go get sandbags from the town and start building a barrier.

                I’d seen the text go out from the town, asking people to come fill sandbags, and I was so thankful, when we showed up, that they were there, working to prepare. What a gift! Ryan backed up the truck and a gentleman loaded 21 bags into the bed. We brought them home, began building, and Ryan went back for 50 more.

(borrowed photo)

                We unloaded and stacked as fast as we could, which I’ve been told, was a last for me. I ended up straining my back/neck and was a MESS a couple of days later. Maybe I really am more of a writer than a bag-barrier-builder.

                We were so gross when this adventure was over.

                There were so many people from our church and neighboring towns that had it SO MUCH WORSE than we did. This was worse than we had ever seen, but it stayed very much at bay for us. We did get nervous that evening, because we discovered that in order to clear the water off the highway, they were pumping the flood waters into the lake. So even though it had stopped raining, we were still taking on water!

                By evening, there was a little water pooled inside our bags, but everything else stayed out. And Ryan got up to check it during the night, but it was no worse. By the next day, the waters receded.

                We are still very waterlogged for sure, but we are quite thankful for drains that work (we’d be sharing a VERY different outcome without them) and flexible jobs that allowed us to come home and tend to the mess and the kindness of strangers who filled sandbags and gave them away. Blessings upon blessings!