Last night my older son wanted to "hang out" with his girlfriend, whose family lives in the worst part of the flood zone here. He insisted on going, saying that they had moved everything upstairs and were just hanging out. Finally he walked over, and got there around 9:30 pm.
At about 11:00 I got a call from his mom, who said that their home was only 200 yards from a dyke that was expected to flood, and there was no way to get my son home. I told her that he needed to HELP her!!!!! She was grateful to be "allowed" to use my son to help out. Turns out that the kids were "hanging out" but the parents were stressed to the max.
This morning I got a tearful call from the mother. Her first floor is completely floooded; their 2 cars have washed away. The flood hit a record level and it is stil in "major flood" stage. I encouraged them to come over here to stay. I HOPE THEY DO. I'm so sorry to know that there's a lot of families that are suffering right now, like them. I also hope my son has had a huge wake-up call about life, that it's not a party for hanging out... I'm just glad it wasn't a real life/death situation for them. Floods are emotionally difficult for those who experience them.
Oh, and we didn't flood (obviously, if I'm going to take on boarders). We took a couple of hours to prepare, though. The river near us is starting to recede a little. The rain here is very light. At present!
bebu
