The 2009 Georgia Flood

We are in the part of Georgia that experienced the recent heavy rains and flooding.

A few days ago, Moo's mom was put into the hospital for some pretty serious stomach problems. We rallied the troups and took the 3 hour trip south to their home to check on her, check on Moo's dad and check on Moo's sister who was also visiting. Everyone needed a good bit of checking :)

We had been experiencing a good bit of rain at this point. Nearly everyday there was at least a small thundershower so we didn't think too much when we left Friday afternoon to head south. Moo's mom was doing much better and we came home Sunday morning (Mom got out of the hospital Monday and is doing great!)

When we got home, things looked weird. I mean you could tell there had been a lot of rain. Our garage floor was a little wet and there was the remnants of heavy rain in the yard.

We got in and immediately found that our phone was out which meant that we also lost internet and cable. I'm ok losing the cable although I missed the season opening of House (dag nambit), but the internet was a problem. I work from home and it's my primary source of information, so I was bothered when the folks said it would be 5 days before the phone was repaired and because of how our phone/internet/cable was set-up, we needed to get the phone fixed in order to get the internet/cable back online.

This experience has me seriously thinking of the wisdom of combining utilities in one company... but I digress.

Anyway, we get home, it's been raining, we've got no outside communications and then.. well then comes the deluge. I have never seen/heard rain like that in my whole life.

About 10 pm, Moo says, "you need to come into our bedroom right now". There, I found a crack in our ceiling RIGHT OVER MY SIDE OF THE BED dripping water on my pillow. We got our giant bed out of the way and then placed a 5 gallon bucket under the drip to catch the rain. Meanwhile, the rain continued.

There wasn't a lot of sleeping that night. I don't know what bothered me more: the constant drip-drop drip-drop drip-drop all night or the fact that the rain seemed to get louder. Also we kept shining a flashlight at the bucket to see how full it was and had to get up to empty it about 4:30 AM.

It was still raining cats and dogs when we finally dragged out of bed. I decided I'd drive Moo into work since it was raining so heavily. I got Phoebe up and got her ready and then we left. The rain was bad. Not the worst rain I'd ever seen, but it just didn't relent the whole time I drove Moo in.

After Phoebe and I got back home, the rain got harder. Meanwhile, I am starting to panic. I don't have Action News to tell me that we're having a monsoon and I don't have weather.com to check so I'm starting to wonder what the hell is happening. Also, the power is blinking on and off and when it couldn't get any worse, the water goes out. I am in complete panic mode now.

I'm texting Moo every 10 minutes to let him know what's going on, getting on Facebook with my cellphone to post my paranoia, generally getting myself worked up.

In a bit of a panic, I decide to evaluate our sources. We've got a couple gallons of water stored away and our water pitchers are nearly full. I stuck a couple of buckets outside to catch rainwater for the potty.

Why is it that when you lose a utility, you instantly need to use that utility desperately? In this case, I was dying of thirst and needed the bathroom in the worst way.

As the day wore on, I realized that I had a radio! GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH!! I can find out what's going on. Agh! There's flooding in some of the northern counties. The river is filling up and rain is still in the forecast.

Next day, there was flooding all around us. The interstate was closed down in several places and roads were blocked all over. Moo stayed home from work because he had to - all of our routes were closed. Wednesday was the same way. Major interstate still closed; alternate routes too but began opening as the day wore on.

Moo and I had plenty of time to evaluate our ceiling which thankfully didn't drip anymore but the damage was done. A giant ugly crack in the ceiling. I called our home owner's insurance company.


Thursday brought the telephone repair man. As soon as he looked at the box, he knew that we'd had a lightning strike and we found that our internet router and the outside box had taken a beating. Also, Moo's computer was dead. He hadn't tried to turn it on since we didn't have internet.

So Friday we got internet and cable back. The insurance adjuster came out that afternoon to inspect the damage. And this past Tuesday, we got a check for the repairs to the ceiling.

So what have I learned?

Always know where a radio is. Keep your cell phone charged. Have a small emergency plan. These kinds of things will keep you sane.

But also, I am aware AGAIN of how lucky and blessed I truly am. People lost their lives and their homes as a result of this. I am lucky and blessed.