The Flood

I think it's time for some flood updating.

For all of you who live elsewhere, I'm fine, and my house is better than most in Findlay, aside from a couple feet of water that landed in my basement. But as for the rest of my lovely town, I can't say the same.

First off, I want to say how heartbreaking it is to finally drive around town and see the damage outside my neighborhood. Forget floodplains, forget the rules, this is a tragedy. It's everywhere. I read that just over $1000 would be available to households from the state since it was named a disaster. That's the second tragedy. A drop in the bucket. For those outside the floodplains, most don't have flood insurance. It's very expensive. My father, for one, didn't purchase it because he's not from Findlay, and wasn't aware of the flooding that happens here from the Blanchard River. He also wasn't aware that some dickhead, trying to make due for a new housing development, took my dad and his neighbors off of a flood plain (before he'd purchased the home) making it not a requirement to purchase flood insurance. So he didn't. Why would he? You should see the housing development. (Now that the water went down.) They should throw the people that came up with building houses on a flood plain (because someone changed the map) in prison.

I took the kids out on a bike ride the other day, because my house is sweltering. Doors are swollen shut or open, my sugar and salt shakers- if the cardboard hasn't melted away, the crystals have turned to muck. You can see where water from the humidity has been running down my cupboard doors. The carpet feels wet and sticky under my feet. Not to mention the smell of the mold that already is starting to take over my basement. I don't mean to complain, because on top of all that, I didn't lose nearly everything. So my children and I got on our bikes Friday to stretch our legs, to (we thought) get some fresh air. We got to Emory Adams Park (2 blocks away) and it's now a lake of poo. It smells that way, and looks that way. The entire length of Blanchard St. is lined with people's soggy, smelly, rotting belongings, some yards are covered in their sewage covered things. Everything smells like shit. There are signs next to two houses- one which reads ,"HOMELESS" the other that reads, "Do we need to drown to get aid?" (I'll get more into that in a sec...)

Emory Adams Park (2 blocks from my house)

Today, I drove to Home Depot to buy a pressure washer and a mop among other cleaning supplies to scrub the rot off my basement, and saw even more damage. I wish I'd have counted the houses that were affected. It's unbelievable. While the water has receded, the worst has just begun. The flood was the easy part, just a waiting game. Now the cleaning has started, and carpet and furniture are piling up in enormous piles. They say the landfills are full; they've been dumping garbage temporarily at the park I mentioned above till they have room. Dump trucks are lined up the highway to get into the landfill, waiting hours to dump their loads.

I keep thinking I should take pictures, like my parents did in the blizzard of '78, but the guilt keeps me from even considering searching for my camera. My children did get to witness this, and they were there when my father put them in his fishing boat, rowed through his back yard, and rescued several elderly people from their homes before the water overtook them. After I picked them up, I saw the water envelop Blanchard from 2nd street to 6th street within an hour. My dad (who lives between 3rd and 4th) stayed with his boat to finish the rescue. That's a man.

Now (true to my nature) comes the bitching, so quit reading now if you're not in the mood for bitchiness yet:

I, believe it or not, think that rules actually should apply during natural disasters. This is my thinking on this one: A level 3 flood (or snow or ANYTHING) advisory is not generally posted (solely) because the "man" doesn't trust your driving abilities. It's posted to keep idiots out of the way of rescue vehicles, AND to keep more people from being rescued from their cars because they didn't have the sense not to drive into a river (which I saw with my own eyes), while rescuers are still trying to pull 97 year old grandma from a sure death at home! Okay, too long winded? Rule of thumb- keep sight seeing on hold till AFTER the disaster.

Last thing, I promise... In this type of situation, that an already cess-pool of a river floods and combines with raw sewage, don't show your hillbilly and tube through it. Or let your kids swim in it. I had to stand up to my ankles in the nastiness to squeegee water into my sump because I don't own galoshes (although I do find them trendy) and I was nauseated the entire time. I promptly showered and soaked them in boiling alcohol afterward. I'll be damned if I put an orifice into it. Much less my children's' orifices. Say hello to e-coli, hepatitis, and those are only the micro-nasties. Don't come crying to me in surgery when you have to have someone's hypodermic needle removed from your heel.

Anywho, sorry bout that but it was building up. Although there are a few little things I found to bitch about- for the most part, I am so happy to see all the cooperation, the comradity of the people who live here, and at the same time heartbroken to see how much was lost. But no one looted, thank god, and aside from a few crazies (where would we be without crazies, anyhow) people are really pulling together. I myself plan on volunteering the next couple days, now that my own mess is under control. I'm at a loss for what to say to those who lost so much, though. Knowing they won't get much from disaster relief, anyway, 'cause money can't replace memories.

For those of you reading that don't live here, would like to help, and don't know how, you can make a secure donation to the Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/, or to the United Way at http://www.uwhancock.org/.