Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Summer Ramblings - Five Years Ago

For some reason, anniversaries divisible by five have the most importance in our culture (apart from the first anniversary of an occurrence.

Today starts the fifth anniversary of a flood event September 7 and 8, 2011 that impacted parts of upstate New York and other parts of the Northeast.

For the next several days I will rerun posts of five years ago.  Those days were so different from the weather forecast for today - beautiful, sunny, with low humidity.  Rather, over 10 inches of rain fell just days after we experienced an earlier tropical storm in what already was the wettest summer on record.

What a difference five years makes.

Today, the post from September 7, 2011.

Disasters - It's Our Turn

I am seven plus hours away from home (Johnson City, New York), on vacation.

This afternoon my son called.  We were in Freeport, Maine enjoying the outlet mall shopping on a rainy day here in the State of Maine.  We knew our home area was having very heavy rains and were worried.  But we tried to put it out of our mind and have a good time.

I had to evacuate my mobile home, my son said.  He (he's a night worker) was sleeping and a policeman pounded on his door. There was a mudslide and he had to leave his mobile home park immediately.

He had problems getting out but he was able to, in his pickup truck, and made it to our home (he has a key).

Despite a state of emergency, his employer wanted him to come in, so he's left for work now.

Before he left, he sent me a message on Facebook that he has heard that people had to enter his mobile home park in hovercrafts.  Right now we (and he) don't know what is happening with his trailer.

I told him to call his insurance agent.  I know that regular homeowners insurance doesn't cover flood but the little I know about mobile home insurance (my knowledge is about 30 years old!) he might have some coverage.  I don't know if he had a chance to.  He also told me that he is having issues with cell phone service.

We wouldn't even try to go home now, at least until the rain stops. We know the interstate we would normally use is closed now (about 20 miles from where we live). So we have to wait.  We know at least two major roads in our immediate home area are closed due to flooding.   We had major flooding in 2006 and know what that was like.  Part of our neighborhood was evacuated.  We were lucky-that time.
I decided to treat you to this taken in Sept 2016.  Isn't it lovely?
And meanwhile, the woman who took the wildflower pictures I posted earlier today - well, I had an email from her when I got back to our motel room.  Her sister, who lives next door, is flooding. She left work early to help.  So here we go again.

No matter how old your children are, you worry.   I'm sure he isn't worried but I am worried for him!

So I will tell myself:  We are safe, and our son is safe, and right now that is all that matters.   I pray my friend and her sister are safe, too.   And all I can do is wait and see.

12 comments:

  1. Wow. Sending love prayers and positive thoughts. <3

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    1. It was a hard time - commemorating a 5th anniversary.

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  2. It's quite scary when nature throws its full force at us and our homes - I can imagine how worried you were while trying to put a brave face on it all.

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    1. It was, and it was about to get worse. Tune in tomorrow.

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  3. Good thing your son had a key to your house. That saves him countless dollars of expense!

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    1. It was a very good thing. There was another family member who wasn't answering the phone, and turns out roads to that place were already flooded to where he wouldn't have made it anyway.

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  4. How did he fare? How was his home? Good thing he could crash at your place. That was very lucky.

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    1. He was fortunate - he was in a high part of the park. The water came up to just under the floor in his mobile home and he was able to do repairs to the skirting himself. So he didn't lose his home, but a number of people in the park did. Thank you for asking!

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  5. It might have been tough. Yes, we definitely worry about our kids when they have to face difficult situations in our absence

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  6. So glad Hermine decided to veer away.

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  7. natural disasters are scary, you never know how you can prepare or avoid. Prayers with all flood victims.
    Tina

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