Flooded

Life is like a 2024, you never know what you're going to get.

I know for me and my family, this stands true.

We have been hit hard and it just continues this year. (last week we had oil lines on our van bust causing a $465 bill)

Our recent jab was from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl.

In 2011, we experienced our first ever Tropical Storm (Irene) in the area which caused flooding and disaster. Which we thought was a one-time only thing. 

We were wrong. 

On July 10th of last year, we got hit with more flooding just from a storm system that produced a lot of rain. Both of those storms put water levels across the bridge we use to get in and out of so we had to keep our distance until the water went down.

Fast forward to July 10th of this year, one year to the day from last year's storm, welcomed Hurricane Beryl remnants.

This was by far the worst we have ever been hit in our area.

The day started out with some light rain and by 3pm heavy rains covered the area. We watched Facebook to keep track of what was going on locally since most of our friends are here.

 

By 6pm, they were warning people of Severe Flash Floods in the area and told everyone to stay home and off from the roads. At that time where we lived, it wasn't too bad.

I stayed up until 2am keeping track of my basement, though we live on a hill and we shouldn't get hit, I just had to be safe. Water freaks me out and it doesn't take much before water can become very dangerous.

By 5am, I was awoken from a deep sleep by the fire department. One of my buddies works for them and told me that our road/bridge had been washed out and there was no way in or out. Then informed me if we needed anything and not knowing how long it would take to fix, he was available and would find a way to bring necessities.

At that point, I wasn't going back to sleep. I had to check out the damage.

It didn't look too bad here, but believe me, the other side was gone. And this tree came from somewhere else.

(just a small look at the main road washed out under)

This is the bridge connected to the road. Looks like a small gap.

All in all, my father in laws gage told us there was 5inches of rain, before we had more showers that day. That has to be a record. Also, this bridge/road has never been washed out and that's saying a lot knowing that my 76-year-old father-in-law has lived here is whole life.

It was a tough sight to see. I was also short on groceries, but at least had coffee. I wasn't sure how long it would take to fix this.

But in an impressive two days, they made a makeshift road to get us in and out. It is scary to drive on as it's very makeshift, but at least I was able to run an errand for groceries.

The main road though and much of its stretch still requires a lot of work. There is trash, wood and random items everywhere on the property where cleanup will take a while. I think I counted 10 car tires. Fortunately, no damage or flooding to my house.

The local town 10 minutes from me saw a ton of devastation. Local businesses will take months to clean; these are small businesses to, the town is covered in mud, trees, and trash. There are businesses with dumpsters outside their buildings, people I know lost everything, one 73-year-old guy that used to take me to school when I was younger took a chance and drove into high waters costing him his life. It's sad to see anything like this hit here and not something I ever expected to see. EVER.

We will all recover though. We have every time. Just hopefully this won't keep happening every year. I know when July 10th comes around next year, I will be aware of it.

I hope everyone has a safe Friday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*