The Great Flood

What a difference a week makes.

This time last week I received a text from Renae in Oklahoma City asking which neighborhood Linda, Scott's mom, lives in because Edmond is getting flooded. Turns out it was her neighborhood, The Valley, among many others. After some Google searching, I found this video showing her street:

News OK Video

The result was three feet of water in her home, which had receded by the time she returned from work. Linda's boss at Oklahoma Educators Credit Union put her up on that night and the next few nights as well.

The next day, Scott and I drove the 90 minutes south to Edmond to help with the recovery process. We were not sure what to expect. Here are some photos of what we found, as well as the progression throughout the day:

Flickr Slideshow and Videos of Water and Mud Damage

The flood did not affect the whole neighborhood, however Linda's street and the streets around it were all affected. It was a total disaster zone. Everywhere you looked there was damaged stuff being pulled out of homes and stacked at the curb.

As the day went on, The Red Cross turned up and volunteers started patrolling the streets bringing water and Gatorade to everyone. It was about 90 degrees F at this point.

Three of Linda's co-workers were also there to help and we got to work and stripped the house, moving out furniture, DVDs, clothing, and pretty much everything. Three feet of water was just enough to pretty much soak all electronics and appliances.

Then the news crews showed up, and Scott gave The Oklahoman reporters a tour:

Interview with the Oklahoman

By mid-afternoon, the streets were packed with cars as more relatives, helpers and volunteers arrived. Bear in mind that this is normally a quiet, residential neighborhood.

Volunteers had now started to approach us at the house and ask if we wanted any help. At first we turned them down as it felt strange to accept help, but as the day went on, and the temperature rose higher and higher, these newly arriving, freshly washed and energized volunteers started to look like just the kind of energy burst we needed to keep going.

Jason's Deli provided boxed lunches with a sandwich, chips and a cookie, at the Red Cross station at the end of Linda's street, which was someone's house on a corner lot with a bunch of 6 foot tables and cases of water and drinks. By dinner time, there was a huge Red Cross trailer parked out front cooking hamburgers for all the people working.

I was told that they would be providing meals every day for the rest of the week! It was amazing to see the outpouring of support. And everyone in the neighborhood was working so hard. No one was complaining, and we were all just getting the work done.

People who lived in homes that were not affected were out with their kids and wagons bringing water and bananas to people who were dealing with the damage. It was an amazing thing to see people come together in a crisis. But as I was to learn later, this was just the beginning...

Several contractors had approached us about carpet, drywall, painting etc, and we booked a restoration company to start work on stripping the wet walls and carpet on Thursday (two days later).

Scott loaded the truck with bags of soaked clothing and pretty much anything else we could salvage and we drove home arriving at about 12:30 am. I don't remember showering but I do remember my head hitting the pillow before zzzzzz....

Wednesday was spent doing 14 hours of laundry. Scott laid out the clothes on the front lawn and driveway to hose off the mud, and then hang them on any surface available. He called it "The World's Worst Garage Sale". I would take in a load at a time and wash and hang them. Yes, you read that right, 14 hours of laundry.

On Thursday, Scott and I drove to Edmond again to see what was going on with the restoration company. Here are some photos of that day's work:

Restoration Photos - Day One

I hit the wall around 2pm and had to leave. An over-heated pregnant woman is not a big help on a construction site. So I went to Greg & Renae's for a couple of hours to hang out by the pool with the kids, and have a little nap.

I returned to Linda's around 6pm. Linda was eating and Scott and I wandered over to the food area where the local culinary institute had provided some excellent meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. All the people there were so very helpful and friendly. They also had tables of toiletries and washing powder for the flood victims to take. A box company had donated pallets of empty boxes, and box cutters and packing paper. I mentioned to Scott that I was overwhelmed at all the donations. He told me I hadn't even heard the best part yet...

Bear in mind that 85% of the flood victims, including Linda, did NOT have flood insurance. This basically means that they are denied their insurance claim, and then need to apply to FEMA for support. However FEMA told us that it had not been declared a state-of-emergency yet and so they could not help. Basically that means that each individual is responsible to pay for everything. Repairs, new furniture, appliances, electronics... everything. To give you an idea of cost, the restoration company alone was thousands of dollars. And that does not cover putting new drywall and carpet in.

Here is Scott's attempt at humor:

Walking back from the food area, Scott told me that some volunteers from Life Church (who were the main organizers of all the aid) had come by to see how many people lived at Linda's house and to get her details. They told her that the donations from their church go to disasters like this and on top of that, they are campaigning the furniture and appliance companies for donations for the flood victims. They invited Linda to come to their church on a certain day to basically "shop" for new furniture and whatever else she needed. For free.

I am sure that even without the extra hormones, I would have burst into tears anyway. I really believe that humanity is good and people coming together like this when it is really needed just proves this.

So next time you watch the news and see all the horrible things happening, and doom and gloom stuff, just remember how many individuals and local community groups like Life Church are out there quietly making a difference every day.

More on my thoughts on insurance companies in a later post...