Sustainable Saturday - Recovery From the Flood

Before I begin, I want to turn my attention to all those on the panhandle of Florida (and those elsewhere) who suffered from Hurricane Michael.  It happens that this storm became a little personal to a good friend of mine.  Her sister lived and still has a house in, and her son (who is a first responder) and his family still live, in a suburb of Panama City, Florida. 

While trying to help others, her sister's son will also have to deal with the extensive damage caused to his house.  His family was lucky to get out alive after trees fell on their house.  I've seen aerial photos of both houses and the devastation is every bit as bad as what many of us have seen on television.

I fear this weather (which impacted so many in Puerto Rico last year, as another example, and those on the island still haven't recovered - and the true death toll may never be known) is our new normal.

Our area of upstate New York, meantime, has had an exceptionally wet summer.  Flash floods have hit our area several times.  My son lived in walking distance of one of the floods (although not impacted directly) and a business near where he lived closed for a time.

Yesterday, thanks to much hard work by the community, this store, beloved by so many, reopened.

It is called Country Wagon Produce and we have shopped there (from time to time) for many years.

The view from the parking lot today

We shopped there today, and it was crowded with people happy that they came back.  The businessowners weren't sure they were ever going to reopen.  It could have been tragic.

Their fall crops were destroyed in the flood, and water even entered the store itself.  Their pumpkins were gone.  Their winter squash.  Their corn stalks.   You can see that at the link at the beginning of this paragraph - the Howard Manges twitter post.

But, with a lot of hard work, they are back in business.

And hopefully, I'll be making these Northern Spy apples (well, not all of them) into an apple crisp soon.  It was my small way of supporting a local business.

Yes, gratitude is in order.  But we, as a people, must give serious thought about how we will deal with our new normal.  Because rebuilding over and over from destruction can't be sustained.

Day 13 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost