Flood Aftermath

After I left my yearbook training in Dallas, I headed straight for my mom's house. The house flooded on Friday, so I was seeing everything three days after the flood. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was not the disarray of furniture or missing sheetrock from the walls, but the smell! I really can't describe it. However, imagine the creek/bayou overflowing and sitting in your house for 24 hours. It is just very musty and yuck!


My parents live less than a mile from the creek. It is no surprise to any one that the house would eventually flood again. They live in a flood zone, have flood insurance, and have lived through a flood twice before. The first time the house flooded, I was in the 7th grade. Josh (my older brother) was at college, and my little brother and sister were staying at my dad's for the weekend. It was just me, Meghan (my older sister), mom, and Gene (my stepdad). My parents could see that the creek would be unrelenting, so we started moving all belongings upstairs. We were pretty much trapped there, so we sat around, without power, and waited for the water. I remember watching the water start to come in, and the hard wood floors starting to buckle. If you have ever wondered why they are called floating hard woods, well take it from me, they float in water. After that flood, we decided tile floor was a good idea. The flood was no match for the tile floor, and the floor came out victorious in 2001 ... and 2012.


In our case, as it was now flooded in 1998, 2001, and 2012, we know the house will survive, the treasured belongings will be saved, and everyone will be alright. When standing knee-deep in water in your living room, you almost laugh. How can this be? It is slightly amusing that your dog just paddled across the threshold, right? Truly, the worst part of a flood is the aftermath. It is a mess like no other. My family was able to get the wet sheetrock and base boards out on Monday, but they had to wait to throw away other items until the insurance adjuster came. Sopping wet rugs piled out on the patio brings out a whole other smell- think rotten eggs mixed with elephants. Seriously. But, now that the wet, nasty items are being thrown away or cleaned, the couches and chairs taken to the upholsterer, and the we-can-live-without-this-for-a-while has been packed in boxes, progress can be made. 

Things that were ruined were taken to the patio to dry. However, it keeps raining. I'm telling you, those rugs stink!

My mom's room is the only bedroom on the first floor. A lot of their things had to be thrown on the bed because they were running out of room upstairs.

The living room with missing sheetrock and most of the furniture crammed in to the middle of the room.

Jill's bedroom with all of the the packed up items.

Upstairs bedroom with downstairs furniture.

Dining room with missing sheetrock and yucky floors.

The pool has turned green, and that is one of many minnows that have made their home inside the pool.

Another messy room with missing sheetrock.

With all of the missing sheetrock, you can see from room-to-room.

Back entry

Another view of my mom's room.

Looking down from the stairs.

Looking down from the stairs.

Piles of baseboards and garbage bags of sheetrock.

And, the "sheetrock guys" told us we shouldn't be breathing in the contaminated air. We only put the masks on for the picture. :)