This is a sad tale of a wonderful elderly couple in the Ward whose house got hit by a flood this evening. A major storm rolled through a little before 6 and dumped a huge amount of rain. At seventeen minutes after 6 there was an urgent text message on my phone from President Fawson. It was an invitation to come and help clean. Everything in that basement came out of it.
The rain came down hard and fast. There is a drainage ditch that flows behind the house and it couldn't handle the volume of water. As a result the yard flooded and then the wells to the basement filled up. The windows couldn't hold back the water and shattered under the weight. Sister wiser was in the living room of the basement when the window pictured below broke. A torrent of mud, water, broken glass and bark came rushing in. She ran down the hallway and then another window burst in the last bedroom.
I was heading over at the same time Jay was on his way. We got the right street and then saw a house with a member of the ward standing out front. We went in and saw no one we recognized. We couldn't spot President Fawson and finally figured out we were in the wrong house. They had a little flooding in the basement but had a crew of family there taking care of it. I say a little flooding and sounds like I am minimizing things. Well, they would get out of this mess with carpet cleaning and shop vacs. When we got to the Wisers home it looked like a mud pit in the basement and we found a crew of familiar faces. We joined in and got to work. A few hours later the basement was empty and there was a pile of mud and carpet out on the road on front of their house. The furniture filled the garage and ward members were cleaning mud off as best they could.
It reminded me of going to Mississippi after Katrina. The damage there was much more severe but this was no less traumatic for the Wisers and seeing people come together to help in anyway they could, that is always inspiring. The only thing we didn't do in this basement was cut the drywall 4 feet up and take it out. There was a rep from the restoration company there after a few hours and said they would be handling all of that with their crews in the morning. He was amazed with what we had come together and accomplished and then gave us a warning about the elements we were working in. That water was filled with a bunch of nastiness as pesticides, poop and whatever else you can imagine was picked up and carried by it.
Jack had come with me and did very well. He found a riding lawn mower that he sat on for a couple of hours and pretended to drive. I should have gotten a picture of that but there wasn't a lot of time for picture taking. I did snap the two below. It is sad to see this happen and yet is a great blessing at the same time as it brings people together in the service of others. There are bonds and friendships forged in these situations that are had to duplicate in other ways. Grateful for good men and women who answer the call and go at a moments notice.
The rain came down hard and fast. There is a drainage ditch that flows behind the house and it couldn't handle the volume of water. As a result the yard flooded and then the wells to the basement filled up. The windows couldn't hold back the water and shattered under the weight. Sister wiser was in the living room of the basement when the window pictured below broke. A torrent of mud, water, broken glass and bark came rushing in. She ran down the hallway and then another window burst in the last bedroom.
I was heading over at the same time Jay was on his way. We got the right street and then saw a house with a member of the ward standing out front. We went in and saw no one we recognized. We couldn't spot President Fawson and finally figured out we were in the wrong house. They had a little flooding in the basement but had a crew of family there taking care of it. I say a little flooding and sounds like I am minimizing things. Well, they would get out of this mess with carpet cleaning and shop vacs. When we got to the Wisers home it looked like a mud pit in the basement and we found a crew of familiar faces. We joined in and got to work. A few hours later the basement was empty and there was a pile of mud and carpet out on the road on front of their house. The furniture filled the garage and ward members were cleaning mud off as best they could.
It reminded me of going to Mississippi after Katrina. The damage there was much more severe but this was no less traumatic for the Wisers and seeing people come together to help in anyway they could, that is always inspiring. The only thing we didn't do in this basement was cut the drywall 4 feet up and take it out. There was a rep from the restoration company there after a few hours and said they would be handling all of that with their crews in the morning. He was amazed with what we had come together and accomplished and then gave us a warning about the elements we were working in. That water was filled with a bunch of nastiness as pesticides, poop and whatever else you can imagine was picked up and carried by it.
Jack had come with me and did very well. He found a riding lawn mower that he sat on for a couple of hours and pretended to drive. I should have gotten a picture of that but there wasn't a lot of time for picture taking. I did snap the two below. It is sad to see this happen and yet is a great blessing at the same time as it brings people together in the service of others. There are bonds and friendships forged in these situations that are had to duplicate in other ways. Grateful for good men and women who answer the call and go at a moments notice.
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