Flood Scare

Wow, What a Crazy Week!!!

So, the real excitement started on Wednesday night, when we received a plethora of thunderstorms.  Of course, I can't sleep from my over-paranoia of storms here.  I tossed and turned, waking with every really loud boom, and then realized that we were also being showered like crazy, most of the time.  So now, along with being afraid of being hit by lightning, now I'm scared of getting flooded.  I checked the weather on my cell phone, and, sure enough, there were flash flood warnings, so my fear was not unfounded.  As the night progressed, river flood warnings were also issued.  Now, I couldn't sleep because I was planning out what I needed to pack, and who we were going to stay with.  I think I got about 2 hours of sleep that night, no kidding.  Maybe three.  Anyway, we got up in the morning and saw that only puddles had collected by our house, so there was no need for immediate alarm.  Actually, I did get up and drive around the park at about 3am.  I wanted to make sure we weren't already being flooded.  It usually takes a while, but that was a LOT of rain.  Well, Rob takes the boys to the bus on his way to work, so he was able to check out the river nearby.  On his way, he rescued a few boys who were struggling to find a way to get to the bus.  They were stranded on an island.  The creek on the other side of the park had flooded over and filled in the road on the way to the bus.  The boys had to jump on the bus from the car, so as to not get wet.  When Rob called to tell me the results, I cut short my breakfast, and immediately started packing.  Rob came back home to help pick up everything on the ground in the shed, so nothing would get wet.  Luckily, we don't have much here, most is still in storage in Idaho, so it only took an hour to be fully prepared.  By the time Rob went back to work, the water had subsided and was no longer a threat.  That is, the creek water.  The river water was slowly rising, about an inch an hour, so I watched it the rest of the day, ready to move out when necessary.  I had Enrichment that night, so I checked it before and after.  It had risen faster, so I was seriously considering staying with family that night.  Rob didn't want to go through the trouble of getting the kids to sleep at someone else's house, so he convinced me to stay.  I set my alarm for 3am again, to check the water level.  It was still rising, and a lot of people had parked their cars near the front of the park, and in the higher areas, in preparation.  But, it still wasn't high enough to evict anyone, so I went back to bed.  In the morning, it was still rising, so we drove around to look at it, and take pictures.  By 9:30am, it was high enough for me to really start worrying, it had spilled over into the  pond next to us, and was creeping onto the road in front of our house, a few houses down.  The road we use to get in and out, was filled up, but not impassible, yet.  Knowing that it could still be a few hours before we wouldn't be able to get through, I roped Rob into helping me paint my bathroom.  It was his day off.  So, we set to work, and a few hours later, checked the water again.  It hadn't moved much at all, so we kept working.  I finally sent Rob to pick up the boys from the bus, hoping to catch them before they jumped in the water to play.  Well, I guess he was a little late, because Daniel walked in with a water line up to his thighs.  Oh well.  The water still hadn't gone up more, so we were sure that it had crested.  It hadn't rained since Wednesday night (we're on Friday now) so there wasn't danger of it rising again.  The threat was over, so we took the kids to the Y to play, and then came home and moved a few things back to where they belonged.  It was a little tight having all our storage piled up in our living room, kitchen, and my bedroom was covered with bathroom supplies that were moved to be able to paint.  Whew!  What an eventful few days.  Well, I was complaining about being bored.  I guess this is what I get.  I have to admit, I did love the excitement of it all.

This is the road in front of our house, about five houses down.  It is close to the pond, right there.  You can also see the water at the end of the road, which is on a corn field. 

This is where the river starts it's journey next to the trailer park (you can see the bridge) then it flows around it, bordering it for only about 1/8 of the entire park.  But, since the park is at a low level here, it spills over, causing the most damage to those closest to it.  We are located on the other side, where it rarely makes it.  (you can see a little bush that marks where the river ends and the parking area starts)

This is near the middle of the park.  This isn't the deepest point, but I don't think it got into any houses.  (didn't want to drive in the deepest part)

Just another pic.