Who Says, "A Little Water Never Hurts"?

We have entered the second day of recovery from the Joliet Flood.  To say the least it has been an interesting day that actually started last night.  Last night there was a meeting of the Joliet City Council--which was actually advertised as a community meeting on the flood.  The wife and I attended the meeting with about  three hundred other folks from the community and surrounding area.  It was an interesting meeting as those in the local government stated that they did everything they could do, and those who wondered whether or not anyone in authority did anything that they could do.  Surprisingly there were not a whole bunch of disgruntled people in the crowd--most were appreciative of the help that neighbors extended in a difficult time.  The big message that came from the meeting and the authorities in attendance was that everyone was pretty much on their own.  The federal  and state governments had no real assistance to offer outside of road repair. In other words, good luck and don't let the door hit you on the way out.  In a way the meeting was disappointing.

Someone once said that "a little water never hurt anyone"--I want to know who the idiot was that said that.  He, or she, knew nothing about the impact of a flood.   There are as many stories as there are people about the impact of the flood upon their lives.  I can only share the stories that I know that are basically from those people who are a member of the church that I serve.  Trust me, a little water can hurt people.

One family in the church lost more than the contents of their basement in the flood.  At this point it looks as if they have lost their home.  With the flood, the rising water table, and the age of their house their problems go beyond a mere wet basement.  The water has caused their foundation to begin to settle.  As the foundation settled the rest of the structure began to shift.  Walls on the main level of their house began to pop as they settled into their new location.  Many of the walls in their house shifted around causing major damage to their house.  The structure is questionable for habitation.  Besides the possibility of losing their home the insurance company added insult to the injury--the company told them that there was nothing they could do--they were on their own.

Several of the families I spoke to spoke of the devastation that the flooding caused in their lives.  One lady lost everything that she had spent a lifetime collecting.  Another lady lost  a lot of the artwork she had done since she was in college--she is in her 80s today.  One spoke of the possibility of losing his house if the water drained too quickly from his house.  And, another lost a lifetime of memories as the flood wiped out all those documents and pictures from a lifetime.  It was sad to stand with these people watching as they cleaned out the years of memories and keepsakes of a lifetime.  It was heart-wrenching to see the amount of devastation that the flood caused in the lives of people.

Last night we pretty much had all the water out of the basement--almost twenty inches--cleared out of the basement of the church I serve.  This morning there was another two inches of water in the basement.  It was sad to discover this, but not quite unexpected as our water table is quite high at this time.  But, none the less, my deepest hope was that the flooding was over for the time being.  Sadly, it was not and is still not.  This is what I found this morning:

 This is to say nothing of the devastation that happened in the community.  I heard countless stories of the flood's impact on families in the community.  It was not good as the flood made a major impact on the lives of many. Some will bounce back well, others will struggle just to make it through the day.  This was one of the houses (of many) that lost much:

A little water can add up to a lot of water.  And that water can make an major impact--a life changing impact.  Ask the people of Joliet and they will tell you, "A little water can make a BIG difference."  The flood of 2011 will be one that many generations in the area talk about--it changed lives.

Sadly to say that there is not much time to wallow in the present and the impact that it has on people's lives.  The National weather service has issued its report--more rain and possible flooding.  An already anxious and nervous people contend not only with a clean-up of epic proportions but also the possibility of another flood.  This sort of news tends to make people a little gun-shy:

To say the least, a little water can hurt--especially when it is compounded by lots of little waters.  None of us knows what tomorrow may bring, but we have to play the cards that are dealt.  The best that we can do is to do the best that we can do.  Today was a long day in which I experienced the awe of those who are making the best of what they can do.  As daunting as the day has been, it has been a blessing.  We do not know what tomorrow will bring;yet, it does not matter.  It does not matter because we have been called to make the best of whatever we are dealt.  That is pretty much all that we can do.

And the Water Came

Little did I fathom that when I left for work in the big city on Wednesday morning that there was going to be any problems in the community of Joliet where our home is.  Approximately an hour and a half after I left the town was hit with a flood from Rock Creek flooding about two-thirds of the community--mostly everything to the south of Highway 212.  This flood was due to uncontrollable circumstances that combined to make the water miss a curve in the creek and head straight down the highway.  Though there is considerable debate on whether or not the flooding could have been avoided, it flooded.  Highway 212 from Rockvale to Red Lodge was closed down as the community was slowly inundated with water--LOTS OF WATER!  The pictures above are looking towards Main Street approximately twelve hours after the water flooded the community--it was slowly going down.

Both the wife and I had been at our places of employment in the big city when we began receiving inquiries about the flood in Joliet.  My first reaction was--what flood?  At first I did not believe those who were asking the questions, but it was soon on the local radio stations that Highway 212 was closed due to a major flood in Joliet.  Talk about turning a day into a bummer!  From that moment on my only concern was what was happening in the town I call home--was my house flooding?  Was the church I serve flooding?  What about the people who attend the church--were they safe?  My son--who was at home--safe?  A million scenarios flashed through my mind.  It was difficult to concentrate on work the whole day as I kept getting various reports about the situation.  I was pretty edgy by quitting time rolled around.

Making me even more edgy was the fact that the road to Joliet was still closed come quitting time.  The wife assured me that local traffic could go into Joliet, but that did nothing to ease my anxiousness.  We met at the daughter's house to decide what we were doing--were we going to go home, or were we going to spend the night in the big city?  Basically we had a nice visit with the daughter, youngest son, and our two furry grandchildren, had a little pizza, and decided to take the adventure and return home.  Of course this was only after getting some reassurance from a member of the church that it was safe to come home.  Thus the adventure was on!

I was not prepared for the scene that I encountered once I arrived in Joliet.  The highway looked like a river.  water was everywhere.  Pumps were humming all around town in a noisy chorus.  Rubber-neckers were driving all over town taking in the flood.  We both had to take a haphazardly way to get to the house to avoid the water, but thankfully the north side of the highway avoided the brunt of the flooding.  It was a mess.

With the high water and the fast flow we were pretty much stuck on our side of the highway when we got home.  My concern for the church was abated some when I was told that the flood water never crested over the curb and into the church.  That was later squashed when a member of the church called to say that the church basement had about ten inches of water in the basement.  My heart sunk.  From a distance the church looked safe from our side of the street--images can be deceiving.

The amount of water that flooded the community was more than its antiquated sewer system could handle the result was a double dose of flooding.  A lot of the flooding came through the sewer system speeding up the amount of time that it took to fill the community's many basements.  That was the cause of the flooding in the church basement.  It was not a mere ten inches of water in the basement, it was closer to twenty inches at 6:30AM this morning.  The pictures below are of the two entrances into our basement.

As you can see there is a lot of water!  The church family had five families with flooded basements.  The town had its only grocery store flooded.  Two-thirds of the homes in the community were flooded.  But we are not the only ones who have been affected by the nine inches of rain received in the past seven days--there are many communities that have been flooded.  One of the hardest and poorest areas of Montana to be flooded was the Crow Reservation south of the big city.  The flooding was so bad through that area that Interstate 90, from Hardin to the Wyoming state line was closed for several days.  And, the flooding is probably not over as more rain is predicted this Memorial Day Weekend, plus the warmer temperatures and rain is accelerating the snow melt creating even more water down the waterways of the state.  Creeks and rivers already at flood stage are expected to flood again next week.  Who would have imagined this in a hundred years?  I guess that is why they call it a "hundred year" flood.

So it is that the community has banded together to help one another out.  The pumps are humming.  Sandbags are being filled and placed.  People are reaching out to one another--taking care of one another.  Joliet is being a community--people with a common union, even if it is a flood that binds them together.  In the days to come please keep the people of flood ravaged Montana in your prayers--we just ain't used to all of this water!  After years of drought we appreciate the water, but enough is enough!