Flood

Our town got over 6 and a half inches of rain before noon today, and that's not counting the big storm that passed through before midnight last night. No worries here though. The hill kept us nice and dry. Our pool was overflowing, the garden got pretty swamped for a while, and our front street became a raging river, but everything is fine now. Remember how I said the ground was wet on Wednesday? Well, it's not had time to really dry out, so saturation happened very quickly in the area and surrounding counties.

Our hometown was not as lucky as us. They got about 10 inches this morning and large portions of various sections are under water. Our parents are fine, but many people are displaced tonight, Matt's sister included. Although her house was not yet under any water, she was evacuated by rescue workers via boat-and had to leave her dogs behind. (A pet owner's nightmare, of course.) If it weren't for the fact that Matt's brother lives near the high school where they sent the evacuees, she would have had to spend the night there. Her husband is stuck in another town to the south and at last word, they had closed all northbound entrances into where she is. We are still waiting for more info on her situation. Most of the town is without electricity for safety reasons.

A small town to the southwest is 90% under water. There was a section of the highway closer to here that was closed due to a giant mudslide that washed a bunch of old growth trees all over the road like twigs, leaving a few houses precariously close to the edge. Mudslides in Indiana! Needless to say, we are under a state of emergency here.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those who lost their homes today, but we are also truly grateful that not one life was taken by the rising waters either. Hopefully as the flood crests, that lucky streak will continue. I'm sure tomorrow there will be more information as to how to help the victims.

High: 88 Low: 71, strong thunderstorms and then sunny and hot; Lunar Phase: Waxing Crescent, 24% of full.