I'm starting this post today, June 22, 2011, to chronicle the events of our situation with the Flood Fight of 2011. I want to keep a record of the information we are receiving from Canada and the newsmen, of what we have done to prepare, photographs to document that as proof, to track the level of the river, the timing of things, evacuation orders, and other important information. This will be an ongoing post, and I will fill in the information from before today as I remember or get documentation from the news sources. So if you are interested in what going on, check back here. I will eventually get links to photos as I get myself organized. It's amazing the amount of information to get up here and how much detail I have already forgotten. What a whirlwind. Here we go!
-5/31/11 Tuesday
-CLOSING DAY! We are new homeowners as of 9:30 am. We closed on the sale of our condo and on the buying of our new house back to back
-We applied early for flood insurance and set it up to take effect at closing
-a couple hours after closing we get news reports that the river would not be able to handle the amount of water expected-which was 1 to 2 feet above the current dike level
-evacuation was going to be necessary for those in the evacuation zones by Wednesday evening, we are in zone one
-We moved everything in from the garage to the main floor, nothing is in the basement except the washer and dryer, elliptical machine, and foosball table (as well as furnace and water heater)
-luckily we haven't had time to unpack much so it's all still in boxes
-We took out important papers and documents as well as scrap books and electronics and stored them at the Kelly's
6/1/11 Wednesday
-We went back and took out other important belongings such as irreplaceable games, books, etc
-the rain we've been receiving is making it impossible to build up the primary dikes, secondary dikes are announced and begun
-one of the first secondary dikes begun is the one on 16th St. right in front of our house, blocking us in against the river
-We went back and put our furniture up on buckets and moved things as high up as possible, took some more things out
-We put sandbags around our window wells, on the garage doors, and around the electrical panels in the back
-evacuation time moved from 10 pm to 6 pm
-packed short term bags, turned off the power and water, headed over to Grandma Kelly's to evacuate
week of 6/2/11 through 6/9/11
-Fret, fret, worry, worry, watch the river, hang out at Grandma's
-the secondary dike work was abandoned once the primary dikes dried a bit so work resumed on those
-there was an opening at the end of our street so we could get into the house to check on things, take additional belongings out
-Apple Grove area flooded
-the crest predictions suddenly dropped, the river never went over it's banks
-when the river got down to 1551.5 the Mayor allowed people to move back into their homes, but advised them to move in "lite" in case another evacuation became necessary
week of 6/10/11 through 6/19/11
-We left important document and most other things at Grandma's, but did go home and made the beds, shopped for food, watched the river stay in its banks
6/20/11 Monday
-City officials announce that the dikes are not going to hold the amounts of water coming
-Work on building up the dikes is abandoned
-Work begins on secondary dikes around the city infrastructure such as city hall, schools, the water treatment plant, the university, and dikes to keep Broadway open
-citizens in Minot and surrounding area are asked to conserve water, one of the aquifers will be shutting down due to issues as well as flood water
-all of Minot is advised to plug all basement drains due to sewer overloading and possibilities of backup
-We moved all belongings except kitchen and bathroom items out
6/21/11 Tuesday
-We moved the kitchen and bathroom items as well as the blinds and all other belongings out, house is empty
-furnace, water heater, carpet, fridge, stove remain
-Window wells are sandbagged, front door and front garage door and sliding glass door are sandbagged
-basement floor drain is plugged
-electricty and water are turned off, MDU will cut natural gas on their own
6/22/11 Wednesday
-cracked basement windows open to allow water in, in order to prevent pressure damage to the foundation
-removed fridge and stove from the house
-11:00 am Minot river level is 1555.36
-12:00 pm Burlington evacuation sirens sound, all evacuees are out, the water has breached the dikes
-12:57 pm Minot sirens sound, evacuate immediately, water is staring to overtop the dikes in some areas
-about 1:10 pm officials announce 3rd St. bridge will be closing (hoped to keep that one open-the north/sound routes available will be Broadway and the Bypass
-3:00 pm Minot river level is
-around 5:00 pm giant rubber bladder tubes are placed as dikes along the bypass
-5:00 pm Minot river level is 1555.50
-5:30 press conference announced the crest should be around June 26th at a level of 1562-1563, 2-3 days earlier than previously anticipated, still 7 feet to go before the crest
-7:00 pm 16th St. is closed
-There are 500 National Guardsmen in Minot at this time
6/23/11 Thursday
-Minot river level is 1555.65
-about 1:15 Broadway is temporarily closed between University Avenue and Burdick Expwy to allow trucks free access to building the dikes, water is coming faster and deeper from Canada, expected crest now 1566.
-all citizens in the river valley are asked to evacuate voluntarily (not mandatory) due to higher crest predictions
-Bypass is temporarily closed to allow trucks to work, this cuts off all north/south travel in Minot essentially cutting the city in half for now
-by morning there will be 750 guardsmen in Ward County
-Presidential Declaration of a Major Disaster for ND has been made
-3rd St. bridge is open for now, will close tomorrow for diking
-Gauge says 1555.67 but it isn't changing much because it is spreading outward
-We are expecting "double the water" of the 1969 flood
-All state employees are allowed to leave work to help with the flood fight no matter where they live
6/24/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1556.35 and spreading
-12:00 pm Minot river level 1558.52 (all time high was 1558.0 in 1881)
-in the last 24 hours the river has gone up 3 ft. we expect another 4-5 ft in the next 24 hours
-4:00 pm Minot river level 1559.57
-the road is wet at Dairy Queen, two blocks from Elizabeth's house
-there were four water rescues on Thursday
-there are 10-12,000 people displaced but only about 300 in the shelters
-Hwy 2 is closed between Minot and Towner
-Hwy 52 westbound lane from Sawyer is closed
-Hwy 41 closing in Velva for levee construction
-3rd St. bridge closed (use the bypass!)
-Senator Conrad says obtaining individual FEMA assistance is "critically important"
-Senator Conrad says keeping Broadway open is a "key priority"
-Senator Conrad says the White House is "fully committed to a full federal response"
-Mayor Zimbelman estimates 4000 homes damaged by Friday night
-Senator Hoeven says congressional delegation's priority is to get FEMA to make individual assitance available so temporary housing can be obtained for displaced residents
-10:00 Minot river level is 1561.0
6/25/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level is 1561.51, two feet to go before expected crest (1563.5)
-3:00 pm Minot river level is 1561.59
-NEW CREST INFO: expected crest sometime tonight at a new lower level 1561.8!!!
-possible water contamination, some river water got into the system untreated, boil order issued
-Harley's and the Grandstand are still good, but several dikes have failed
-Ramstad and Longfellow schools flooded
-Perkett school's (Chelsea's school in another year) dikes are eroding, working to reinforce (blackhawk helicopter bringing in 1-ton sandbags from the air
-first floor of Holiday Inn flooded
-Arrowhead dikes insufficient, now flooded
-thunderstorms around the state, we had an unnofficial? tornado warning, (I was at work at walmart and they had a code black where all the customers had to go to the center of the store-I don't think the national weather service issued a warning, but I heard there was a funnel cloud in the area)
6/26/11 Sunday
-2:00 and 3:00 am CREST! 1561.72
-We are just waiting now for the river to go down. Lake Darling is still very full, they are contemplating keeping the releases high now in order to drop the level of the lake but they won't release enough to raise the level of the river here, we don't want a repeat of this flood especially now that the integrity of the dikes (old and new) have been compromised and changed
-5:00 pm Minot river level 1561.55
-From what we can tell looking at houses near our area (no ability to see our house at this point) we estimate our water to be at least half way up on the main floor, possibly higher but we have no way of knowing without a visual
-Update from last comment: We finally saw a photo that was taken by KX News. Our house has water up past the eaves of the roof, worse than we hoped, but not surprising or shocking
6/27/11 Monday
-6 am Minot river level 1561.30
-12:40 pm Announcement of several water main breaks, system will lose pressure, may not be able to restore soon, ration water immediately
-4:00 pm 1561.18
-water releases from Lake Darling will be reduced by 1000 cfs (cubic feet per second) each day for two weeks. By the end of the two weeks the river should be back in its channel granted there is no heavy rain
-(as a general fyi, 8,000 cfs is a pretty significant flow from Darling, they upped the releases all the way up to 29,000 during this flood which is WAY more than we can handle, obviously)
-Rick and I met with a FEMA representative (Dan) to verify our identities and address from our online application, start paperwork process, got instruction on when to call for our inspection (when the water is gone from our lowest level)
-went to a free dinner for evacuees at the Maysa arena, many people are storing items there and/or camping on the grounds
6/28/11 Tuesday
-12:00 midnight Minot river level 1560. 90
-7:00 am Minot river level 1560.66
-Beth continues her fight with the sewage leak in her basement, today they are removing the carpet from affected areas, the pressure seems to be going down as the river slowly recedes, shop vacs are quite handy
-even though many places are diked off and dry, there are still problems with the sewer system and water system around town
-many many houses/businesses have been dealing with ground water seepage for weeks if not months
-Rick is working basically on an on-call basis, I am working as usual being only two minutes away from work and not having to deal with crossing town (two or more hour commute now) like many folk. This is fortunate. I may even take on a few extra shifts. We still have mortgage to pay (our first payment is due July 1st) even though we don't have to worry about utilities and other services at this point.
-We continue to conserve water by showering less, flushing only if absolutely necessary, not running the water in the house, no watering or sprinklers in the yard, rewearing clothes to limit laundry
-boiling order still in effect, we can't consume our limited tap water yet, but at least we haven't lost water pressure
-our phone and electricity are still good here at Grandma's
-Gov. Jack Dalrymple has invited President Barack Obama to tour the flood devastation in North Dakota, Obama says he will consider it
-There is talk that some of the houses won't be allowed to be rebuilt in their current location
6/29/11 Wednesday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1560.17
-4100 houses damaged, 800 with ten feet or more water
-One lane of traffic each way is now allowed on Broadway, but only from 7-10 am and from 4-7 pm
-6:00 pm Minot river level 1560.02
6/30/11 Thursday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1559.95
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1559.92
-we expect to still be above the all time high (of 1558) until July 6 (Wednesday) morning then it should drop about two feet within a couple of days, at that point we will be at the 1969 flood level, *amazing!*
7/1/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1559.66
-6:00 pm Minot river level 1559.44
-People on the fringes of evacuation zones (on the outside fringes) in NW Minot can return to their homes as long as there is no river on their lawns
-The people in the zones protected by the secondary dike next to Broadway will be allowed home when the level reaches 1555
-I've heard rumors that FEMA will want to demolish any house that had 8 feet or more of water
-Rumor also has it that FEMA will not let the people with houses directly next to the river rebuild in the same location, I'm not sure of the extent of the truth of these rumors
7/2/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1559.31
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1558.76
-Broadway is now open (one lane each way, no turns) from 7 am till 8 pm
7/3/11 Sunday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1558.59
-7:00 pm Minot river level 1558.51
-
7/7/11 Thursday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1556.34
-went to seminar on how to properly clean a flooded home
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1555.80
7/8/11 Friday
10:00 am Minot river level 1555.41
-thunderstorms off and on throughout the day, tornado watch until 10 pm
-Mormon Helping Hands (MHH) build outdoor showers at the church for the volunteers coming to use, equipment has been coming in and organized at the church for checkout/checkin, Dad is quartermaster of the equipment
-Broadway is temporarily closed because the rain is flooding the road (opened again when water drained)
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1555.54
7/9/11 Saturday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1555.20
-MHH out in full force all day today from 7 am on, over 30 work orders have been made already
-MHH will be in full force all day tomorrow after a short 7 am sacrament service (rest of the wards combining for sacrament at 9 am and some may join the MHH after that)
-Tide Loads of Hope is in town
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.93
7/8/11 Sunday
-7:00 am Minot river level 1554.93
-Hwy 2 now open
-3rd St. bridge open
-Broadway is open 2 lanes each way with limited turns
-NDSF (ND State Fair) has been cancelled due to water receding slower than anticipated
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.64
7/9/11 Monday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1554.65
-bridge on the bypass deemed unsafe after being inspected, bypass is closed until further notice for repairs, time estimate unsure
-The boil order is lifted just for those living south of the 2/52 bypass and within the Minot city limits, That's us! yay!
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1554.61
7/12/11 Tuesday
-9:00 am Minot river level 1554.47
-city is prepared to pump water into the river channel once it gets low enough that it won't just flow out a little further downstream
-Mayor visited Perkett area (near our house) and said some places still have 7 feet of water, we don't expect to see our house anytime soon
-there will be a neighborhood meeting for Zone one/Perkett area tomorrow at 7pm at the Grand International, that's us, we are interested to hear what they have to say
-Ramstad will be held in the Auditorium this school year, Lincoln will be held at First Presbyterian, Central Campus Plus at Souris River Campus (Job Corp?)
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1553.94
7/13/11 Wednesday
-10:00 am Minot river level 1553.05
-The meeting tonight didn't reveal any new information. It was called by some neighbors who expected 10 or 12 households to respond, 500-600 people showed up hoping for information and news of our area, we spent 1 1/2 hours mostly bonding as a neighborhood and offering any help and information anyone wanted to share, there were a couple of gripers, but mostly it was a positive-though uninformative-meeting
-10:00 pm Minot river level 1551.78
7/14/11 Thursday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1550.52
-residents and business owners are now allowed into all evacuation zones with no rime restrictions provided there is no water on the lawn and you don't have to drive through water to get there
-you must have a valid ID and proof of address to get into the evacuation zones
-use of the sewer and water systems in prohibited, if there is water in your home call Xcel Energy to disconnect services immediately
-you may not stay overnight at your property unless it is in a self contained camper, camper needs to be parked in the driveway instead of the street so that debris may more easily be picked up
-fire and health officials will be going door to door in evacuation zones passing out info and answering questions
-(I think the city may have started pumping water back into the river channel because the river was down to 1549.99 earlier and now it is slightly higher)
-Rick got to 3 1/2 blocks from our house, he could see it from the railroad tracks by Arrowhead, our garage door has at least survived, not much else can be observed yet
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1550.10
7/15/11 Friday
-6:00 am Minot river level 1549.82
-8:00 pm Minot river level 1549.27
7/16/11 Saturday
-8:00 am Minot river level 1549.00, This is flood stage. Not moderate flood stage, not major flood stage. Just plain old flood stage
-tornado watches and warnings all day long today, we didn't get any inclement weather other than high temperatures and humidity levels
-We finally made it over to our house after they deemed the 16th St. bridge safe enough to drive on.
-The Arrowhead underpass is still full of water and debris, but we can go home by way of Burdick and 16th
-Xcel Energy had come already and Rick and I were able to walk around and take pictures of the condition of the house
-fortunately the floors are sturdy and sound (I've seen some wavy floors and heard about some that have broken through completely under people's weight), the walls are all wavy and mucky, the water level was right at ceiling level so the ceilings (aside from the vaulted ceiling) all got wet and have mold (mostly around the light fixtures for some reason), the light fixtures are full of water/muck, the walls are mostly just mucky and not moldy, the closet doors all came off their hinges and had floated around, the kitchen cupboard above the dishwasher came off and ended up by the front door, the floors are covered in slimy mud that oozes black gunk when stepped on (Rick says that is sewage-gross), the basement is still almost all the way full of BLACK water (that's the technical name for it as well as the actual color of the water), the doors are mossy/moldy and soft (I put a hole in one just nudging it with my toe to open it further-it was very soft), the windows as far as I can tell are all unbroken (except for one that I can see) and the sliding glass door has water in between the panes, the counters are warped and cracked, all the wood cupboards/shelves/railings are completely ruined/warped, our deck is still attached though badly warped and rails broken, our backyard inherited some of the neighbor's things like a little walking bridge and figurines, there is also a few shelves from somewhere in the yard, the garage ceiling has parts missing and insulation hanging from it, the garage walls lost all sheet rock and insulation, and the river opened the garage door about a foot.
-overall we were not surprised or shocked at the condition
-Rick took me away from the gunk (not good for unborn babies) and went back and started pumping the basement and mucking out the garage and driveway
-the Mormon Helping Hands will be helping us (us as in Rick since I'm not allowed) first thing in the morning after a short sacrament meeting at church
-of course this weekend it one of the hottest of the year and we have heat advisories all over, the temps will be between 89 and 95 with a heat index of 105 to 110 degrees. ick.
-9:00 pm Minot river level 1548.44
7/17/11 Sunday
-KX news has not been posting the river level now that it is under flood stage and also because of the weather advisories (such as tornado warnings/thunderstorm warnings around the viewing area) being on the screen constantly
-The MHH are in full force working on our house with Rick. I went over after the second sacrament meeting (for those not volunteering or going later to volunteer) and had Rick take a few pictures of the progress
-it is a hot, sticky, sweaty, yucky process
-We are most grateful for the help that we have in gutting our house. It already looks quite different, but it feels good to get the ball rolling with cleanup and recovery.
-from KX news: effective noon Sunday, the boil order is lifted fr North Prairie Rural Water Zones N-1 and S-1, Zone N-1 is generally described as west of Hwy 83 north of the Souris River and west of Burlington along Hwy 2 (including 101st St. NW) and east of Hwy 83 north of 19th Ave. NE. Zone S-1 is generally described as south of Hwy 2/52 from Bell School west to County Rd 10 (19th Ave. NW)
-the crew got out all the walls, woodwork, cupboards, bathroom fixtures from top floor except for the wall above the stairway, we need to scrape and sweep still, but it's mostly just 2x6 and 2x4 structure upstairs left, ceilings are yet to be removed, excellent progress for one day's work
-pumping the basement-still have about four feet at the end of the day
7/18/11 Monday
-Pumping the basement, looks like some more came in so we will take it slower with the pumping
7/19/11 Tuesday
-Rhonda from flood insurance company called to set up a time to check out the house tomorrow
7/20/11 Wednesday
-Our flood insurance rep came and looked at the upstairs of our house, he needs a couple secondary local price quotes (electrical, heating/cooling) and digital images along with some paperwork, should hear back next week some time
-had another Zone 1 meeting at the Sleep Inn, this time there were at least 20 officials ranging from city leaders to FEMA leaders to state leaders and even some congressional representatives, it was only a question and answer meeting, no new information was presented
7/21/11 Thursday
-our FEMA rep called to make an appointment for inspecting the house (I don't know when that is yet, Rick isn't home for me to ask him)
7/29/11 Friday
-in the past week we've gotten a quote from our insurance agency, FEMA has inspected the top floor and said to call them back when the basement is dry, and our contractor made a visit. We expect the numbers from the contractor some time next week. Hopefully they match up fairly closely with the numbers from the flood insurance. That would be really nice.
-just redoing the electrical work was quoted at $10,800 from an electrician
-the school year will begin Sept 6, school system has asked for permission to shorten the school year by five days and then just make up the residual 3
8/3/11 Wednesday
-Flood insurance people are coming tomorrow to photograph the basement now that the water is gone
-basement has been gutted
-subflooring taken out of bathrooms and entryway in preparation for sanitizing
-tomorrow will be the professional cleaning and sanitation/antimicrobial spraying
-yesterday someone accidentally drove their car into the sink hole in front of our house (which seems to be getting bigger also) they said they lost control after driving on a slippery substance-confirmed by police
-we will soon have a second contractor in to inspect and give estimates for rebuilding
8/11/11 Thursday
-boil order is lifted in all flood zones, which means all of Minot is out of the boil order finally
-we got our final quote from the insurance adjuster, signed it, and sent it in for review by the flood insurance company. we expect word in three to four weeks
8/12/11 Friday
-KMOT news team interviewed mom and dad (as well as Erin) as "Hometown Heroes" who have taken in flood victims, we were on the news!
8/26/11 Friday
-Rick has spent the last couple days (and will continue tomorrow) to power wash the outside of the house
-Rick has an appointment with Rainbow for tomorrow morning to finalize and finish paying now that the cleaning and sanitation work has been completed.
-A temporary power box has been installed at the house. We do have water (and without a boil order even!)
-We received our $15,000 advance payment from the insurance company two days ago. We are holding it until we know the rest is actually coming, in case we have to send it back. :(
-We should find out in a few days if we qualified for the full $1000 grant from Walmart. We know we will get at least $400, but we are optimistic that they will find us worthy of the full $1000.
-The MHH were "disbanded" but have been called back into service in order to fulfill the final 25-30 work orders still remaining since our equipment was sent away for storage but then some sent back (with orders for it to be donated to the community organizations still doing clean up work.) They will work through labor day and then be done. Again.
-Members are called to clean the church tomorrow to prepare for regular meeting schedule starting Sunday. We are going to clean the nursery with a big focus on the carpeting.
9/6/11 Tuesday
-We received our flood insurance check! We picked it up from UPS since our street was blocked off with the fixing of the giant sink-hole in front of the house
-Chris and Amanda were helping Rick do some more cleaning: Amanda took care of the outdoors, Rick finished the siding, Chris took out the last of the wet insulation and powerwashed the deck, they took out the last of the ductwork which will be recycled soon, and I'm not sure what other jobs they did since I was only there a short time
-Disaster people were cleaning the debris from the residential houses on our street today as well.
9/14/11 Wednesday
-Sold the house! Wrote up a purchase agreement, collected our earnest money, signed papers, set up closing date
9/28/11 Wednesday
-Today was supposed to be the closing. We signed but there was some confusion about the time on our buyer's part
9/29/11 Thursday
-Closing on the house completed! We are now no longer home owners, but we cannot say that we are homeless. Grandma and Grandpa Kelly have taken us in for the long haul. We estimate it will take about 15 months to save up and get back to the same dollar amount of downpayment we had going into the house four months ago. No complaints on that. We are not flood victims. We are flood survivors. It's not completely behind us until we own our own home again and are an independent family unit once more. But for the most part, the flood of 2011 is in our past.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
New plan: Save the City
A new update for you. Things have changed quite dramatically in the last few days. Here is a list of some of the happenings thus far:
Canada is flooding from large amounts of rain
I don't think the snowcaps have melted yet, and the runoff comes to us
There are three or four dams releasing water into our system because they are at full capacity.
There is an astounding amour of water headed for lake darling
Lake darling is full already
Darling has been holding back for US to have time to evacuate
Darling dam releases are going to dramatically increase to make room for all the water coming to the lake
This is good because we definitely do not want the dam to burst-shudder-
This is bad because our system can NOT handle anywhere near the amount of water coming
We can't handle it to the point where they stopped work on the dikes
We are under mandatory evacuation
They've advised us to move as much as possible including stoves, fridges, etc
The whole city is advised strongly to plug all basement drains because the sewer system is overloaded and will likely back up at some point somewhere
The city is diking the city infrastructure such as the water treatment plant and other such places
The water is already higher than the "crest" from the last evacuation
The new crest projection is ten feet higher than it is now
They estimate the water levels will be nine feet higher than the 1969 levels
And more.
So.
We have completely moved every single thing from our house
We are getting organized and settled into grandmas house
My sister Beth is half a block from the evacuation zone so she too has moved in here at grandmas though half her stuff is at the williams' house
We are not exactly sure how much water will get in
We are two blocks away from the water treatment plant, which has a webcam on the roof to record and observe the river
Whew! I'm getting completely distracted by my kiddos. I hope this list is somewhat understandable. Later I will post actual numbers as they come in. To sum it up, we are facing historic, tragic, unprecedented amounts of water. There is no way to avoid it. The water is expected to run over the dikes for a couple weeks.things change so dramatically so quickly. The last prediction of the water going one to two feet above the dikes didn't happen. But. I think this will. This water MUST come through save the dams, which is the dams broke, there would be no saving anything whatsoever. We'd be lucky to escape period. But the dams are in good condition and functioning properly. There is just so much water coming that we are all being overwhelmed. There is no way to hold it back any more. They've been holding back what they can to keep from going over, but it is no longer possible to prevent that. The lakes and dams are all full and are facing inflows that THEY can't handle. There is no choice but to release the water.
I don't want you to look at me with pity and tears in your eyes. We as a city are facing this crisis and dealing with it in every way we can. We've prepared in every possible way. Everyone is in the same boat. Every single person is affected by this, whether their homes are in the flood plain or not. The community has pulled together and is helping each other. The few through roads are more crowded than I've ever seen, but people are patient and let each other through. They follow the direction from the national guard and the city officials. They are taking care of their neighbors with help and food and drinks and storage and housing and everything one could imagine. I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm not happy with the situation, but it cannot be avoided. It is happening to all of us. We are as well off as is possible short of not having a flood. This is historic. In a sick kind of way it is exciting to be a part of it. It makes me sick in other ways too, but we don't dwell on that part. We are having an adventure, thats for sure.
Canada is flooding from large amounts of rain
I don't think the snowcaps have melted yet, and the runoff comes to us
There are three or four dams releasing water into our system because they are at full capacity.
There is an astounding amour of water headed for lake darling
Lake darling is full already
Darling has been holding back for US to have time to evacuate
Darling dam releases are going to dramatically increase to make room for all the water coming to the lake
This is good because we definitely do not want the dam to burst-shudder-
This is bad because our system can NOT handle anywhere near the amount of water coming
We can't handle it to the point where they stopped work on the dikes
We are under mandatory evacuation
They've advised us to move as much as possible including stoves, fridges, etc
The whole city is advised strongly to plug all basement drains because the sewer system is overloaded and will likely back up at some point somewhere
The city is diking the city infrastructure such as the water treatment plant and other such places
The water is already higher than the "crest" from the last evacuation
The new crest projection is ten feet higher than it is now
They estimate the water levels will be nine feet higher than the 1969 levels
And more.
So.
We have completely moved every single thing from our house
We are getting organized and settled into grandmas house
My sister Beth is half a block from the evacuation zone so she too has moved in here at grandmas though half her stuff is at the williams' house
We are not exactly sure how much water will get in
We are two blocks away from the water treatment plant, which has a webcam on the roof to record and observe the river
Whew! I'm getting completely distracted by my kiddos. I hope this list is somewhat understandable. Later I will post actual numbers as they come in. To sum it up, we are facing historic, tragic, unprecedented amounts of water. There is no way to avoid it. The water is expected to run over the dikes for a couple weeks.things change so dramatically so quickly. The last prediction of the water going one to two feet above the dikes didn't happen. But. I think this will. This water MUST come through save the dams, which is the dams broke, there would be no saving anything whatsoever. We'd be lucky to escape period. But the dams are in good condition and functioning properly. There is just so much water coming that we are all being overwhelmed. There is no way to hold it back any more. They've been holding back what they can to keep from going over, but it is no longer possible to prevent that. The lakes and dams are all full and are facing inflows that THEY can't handle. There is no choice but to release the water.
I don't want you to look at me with pity and tears in your eyes. We as a city are facing this crisis and dealing with it in every way we can. We've prepared in every possible way. Everyone is in the same boat. Every single person is affected by this, whether their homes are in the flood plain or not. The community has pulled together and is helping each other. The few through roads are more crowded than I've ever seen, but people are patient and let each other through. They follow the direction from the national guard and the city officials. They are taking care of their neighbors with help and food and drinks and storage and housing and everything one could imagine. I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm not happy with the situation, but it cannot be avoided. It is happening to all of us. We are as well off as is possible short of not having a flood. This is historic. In a sick kind of way it is exciting to be a part of it. It makes me sick in other ways too, but we don't dwell on that part. We are having an adventure, thats for sure.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Update
Alright so not everybody has the skinny on the happenings, and I apologize for taking so long to let y'all in on what's been going on. Long story short: We are HOME!
The river in our area didn't flood. Other parts of the outlying areas were not so fortunate. I feel very deeply for the families whose homes were inundated with water. It oh so easily could have been us in the exact same situation. It's not a fun situation to find yourself in. And we were lucky. All over the city people's homes are getting soaked just from ground seepage. Our house, two blocks from the river, is dry as a bone. The only water threat we faced/face is if the river goes over the banks.
I say faced/face because even though we are home now, the season of high water is far from over. We've had record levels of snow, record levels of rain, record levels in the lakes, and record releases from said lakes at the dams. One dam, the Garrison dam, has never had to release water until this year. Canada has much water to flow down our way still. The river is still quite high.
Backtracking: The river had been expected to crest a foot to two feet above the levees. For several days we watched the level go up and up and up. Then the projections started to lower and the river stopped rising so quickly. Then the projections got even lower. The river actually started to recede! After a few days of receding water and lower projections the mayor changed the mandatory evacuation to a voluntary evacuation, but asked residents to move in lite and be prepared to evacuate again should the need arise. We didn't jump right in, even though we were able to drive through a break in the secondary dike really close to our house and walk easily to our front door. That dike was enough alone to keep us from our house, but also we didn't have any natural gas power yet. So no hot water at ALL. And our fridge was 100% empty.
Luckily the dike on our street was one of the first, if not the first, to get removed and put back where it came from. (Which is the north hillside of Minot high, for those familiar with the area.) Some of the secondary dikes are still in place. I can't express my relief at having our dike gone. It was bad news for us who were living on the wrong side of it!
Anywho. We are now fully functioning at home with natural gas and food and water and all that jazz. We haven't unpacked everything, though we did drag most of the junk that is going to be downstairs permanently to the basement. Our basement drain is still plugged so laundry is a no go. We do that at Grandma's house, (to be honest, GRANDMA does it at grandma’s house-we are so spoiled) and will have to continue for at least another month probably. At least we've gotten the toys unpacked! The girls had a ball playing with everything as we unpacked it and messing things up as we were trying to set up. But it was worth it. Some of their toys had been packed for months now. I really would like to unpack ALL my boxes and put my books on my bookshelves. But that is not yet to be. There is still risk of flooding. They are keeping the river levels extremely high because of the sheer volume of water that needs to come through. It seems to me that the water is just as high now, at least in our area, as it was during the major flood scare/preparation/evacuation. That may or not be the case.
I have to remind myself that they are monitoring the water extremely closely and are controlling the releases wisely. They are keeping the river high on purpose. It's a little uncomfortable how high it is, even for me, but it's the way it has to be. I am praying that this is an exceptional year and not the new norm. If it doesn't flood for another 42 years I can handle that because we aren't likely to still be in this house in 42 years.
So eventually I WILL get decent pictures of the new place taken and posted up here. Right now we are definitely not picture-worthy. I am working extra hours because a coworker is on a leave of absence and so I haven't been home much to make the place more home-ish. It's getting there. Slowly. I still love it. The kids love it. I think Rick likes it alright... ;) I can't wait to get started on my projects! (staining the front entryway and back deck, putting up a fence, putting handles on the kitchen and bathroom cupboards, installing the microwave, getting a garbage disposal, etc etc etc.) The list goes on. Then someday I would like new carpet and finally, finishing the basement! I think I need to rob a bank. Just kidding!
The river in our area didn't flood. Other parts of the outlying areas were not so fortunate. I feel very deeply for the families whose homes were inundated with water. It oh so easily could have been us in the exact same situation. It's not a fun situation to find yourself in. And we were lucky. All over the city people's homes are getting soaked just from ground seepage. Our house, two blocks from the river, is dry as a bone. The only water threat we faced/face is if the river goes over the banks.
I say faced/face because even though we are home now, the season of high water is far from over. We've had record levels of snow, record levels of rain, record levels in the lakes, and record releases from said lakes at the dams. One dam, the Garrison dam, has never had to release water until this year. Canada has much water to flow down our way still. The river is still quite high.
Backtracking: The river had been expected to crest a foot to two feet above the levees. For several days we watched the level go up and up and up. Then the projections started to lower and the river stopped rising so quickly. Then the projections got even lower. The river actually started to recede! After a few days of receding water and lower projections the mayor changed the mandatory evacuation to a voluntary evacuation, but asked residents to move in lite and be prepared to evacuate again should the need arise. We didn't jump right in, even though we were able to drive through a break in the secondary dike really close to our house and walk easily to our front door. That dike was enough alone to keep us from our house, but also we didn't have any natural gas power yet. So no hot water at ALL. And our fridge was 100% empty.
Luckily the dike on our street was one of the first, if not the first, to get removed and put back where it came from. (Which is the north hillside of Minot high, for those familiar with the area.) Some of the secondary dikes are still in place. I can't express my relief at having our dike gone. It was bad news for us who were living on the wrong side of it!
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| Yes it is mostly just a pile of dirt along the road. We found out later that the only reason they even put the secondary dikes in place is because it was so wet that the primary ones were unable to be driven on/worked on safely. Once they dried a bit they abandoned the secondaries and went back to reinforcing the primaries. *Whew!* |
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| It looks pretty pathetic in the picture here. It is way lower in front of our house than other parts of the dike. Other secondary dikes around town actually look like dikes and not just a mess. |
I have to remind myself that they are monitoring the water extremely closely and are controlling the releases wisely. They are keeping the river high on purpose. It's a little uncomfortable how high it is, even for me, but it's the way it has to be. I am praying that this is an exceptional year and not the new norm. If it doesn't flood for another 42 years I can handle that because we aren't likely to still be in this house in 42 years.
So eventually I WILL get decent pictures of the new place taken and posted up here. Right now we are definitely not picture-worthy. I am working extra hours because a coworker is on a leave of absence and so I haven't been home much to make the place more home-ish. It's getting there. Slowly. I still love it. The kids love it. I think Rick likes it alright... ;) I can't wait to get started on my projects! (staining the front entryway and back deck, putting up a fence, putting handles on the kitchen and bathroom cupboards, installing the microwave, getting a garbage disposal, etc etc etc.) The list goes on. Then someday I would like new carpet and finally, finishing the basement! I think I need to rob a bank. Just kidding!
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| A few teaser pictures. Here is the master bath, wet shower curtain and all. |
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| Master bedroom, if you didn't figure that out, hehe |
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| Hallway looking from kitchen/living room area toward bedrooms. Rooms left to right: Chelsea's bedroom, Brie and Baby's room, master bedroom, and bathroom with the light on |
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| Brie saying, "Cheese!" as I'm taking pictures |
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| Play room portion of the finished part of the basement |
That's all for now, everybody. More to come at a later time!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Flood Fight of 2011
That's what they are calling it. The Flood Fight of 2011. It is a fight indeed.
Some background info for those not keeping up with the Heits on Facebook. Last you may have heard, we were trying to sell our condo because we found a beautiful house to buy. Well long story short, we did in fact get a nice family to buy our condo from us. It took one month and one day from the time we put it on the market to the time we got the offer. We got our asking price with us paying the closing costs, which was our best case scenario and the best we were hoping for.
Our buyers wanted to move the closing date back to May 31st, but other than the appraisals and inspections, that was the only bit of business that needed doing. No problem. Our owners were fine with changing the closing date. So we would be closing on both the condo and the house on the same day. That is great except we needed to get our stuff out of the condo before closing. But we couldn't get our stuff into the house until closing. What to do with our stuff in the meantime?
Well in the end the owners agreed to let us put our stuff in the garage and main floor of the house starting the weekend right before closing, as long as all the business with our condo sale was peachy. It was. So that's what we did. We got our stuff packed up and moving day was on May 28th.
Moving went very well. We had a tremendous crew to help us out. We were all done by mid afternoon. We sent grandpa home to nap with Brie. I picked up Chelsea, and us womenfolk stayed around to start setting up beds and unwrapping the furniture. We had wrapped all the bedroom furniture in plastic to help keep from getting scratched and/or wet. Plus it kept all the drawers in. It worked fairly well. We went through a good couple thousand feet of saran wrap, but it was worth it, hehe. We got a lot done in that day.
Moving day was Saturday the 28th. Sunday we took off. Monday the 30th was condo cleaning day. Us womenfolk went to work and took 5-6 hours and cleaned the condo out for preparation of closing the next day. It looked pretty spiffy. Luckily we didn't have to preclean the house because they had it professionally cleaned after the renters left.
Tuesday the 31st comes around. This is yesterday for those keeping track. We went in and closed on the condo and the house back to back. Everything was very smooth except they reimbursed us for the condo fee for June, but we hadn't payed it yet. So we just had to go make the payment that they already reimbursed us for and we were in business. Rick dropped me off at the house and went off to get milk, get a second garage door opener since there was only one, and to make copies of the key, since there was only one. Weird, I know. Who only has ONE key to their house?
I turn on the heat, huddle in a blanket for a bit, and call Auntie Beth to come over to brighten my day. I had asked Rick how he felt and he wasn't feeling too good. I was still excited and happy and was finding it hard to get going on the boxes. But I did start unloading my kitchen stuff. Auntie Beth came and started helping. And Grandma Heit also dropped by to help. Right before grandma Heit came over, we got the news.
There was going to be a mandatory evacuation for all of the flood zone areas. We are in flood zone number one. Flood zone number one doesn't necessarily mean we are the highest risk. They are numbered geographically 1-9. Either way, we were going to have to be out of the house/area by Thursday evening. (remember this is Tuesday) They didn't think the Mouse River was going to be able to hold the water that is on the way. Fabulous.
We knew going into this deal that the river was high. We are within two blocks of the river on 16th street, right in the middle between the underpass of Burdick and 16th, and the Arrowhead underpass. This is not the lowest point by the river. The lowest points are over by Sammy's and 3rd. So they are definitely in much more trouble than we are. They are zone five or six, if you care. We still had several feet of leeway before the river became a danger to us. And they had said that the river had already crested back in April-that it was as high as it was going to get for the season.
Well.
They were wrong. During the week before closing we had 5 or 6 inches of rain all throughout the basin. That was NOT helpful. They have been releasing water from other areas because I guess in Canada they are having some flooding issues, and the dams were at full or near to full capacity with the anticipation of more rain and water flowing in. Rain and thunderstorms are STILL in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.
So remember we were going to have to be out by the end of Thursday. The water was rising faster than anticipated and they upped the out time by 24 hours (out by Wednesday night) and announced that they would be hastily constructing some secondary dikes all along the river valley. That sounds peachy, doesn't it? It IS peachy unless, like us, you live on the WRONG side of that secondary dike. That secondary dike is now fully constructed in front of our house, which would hold the overflow from the river right on our house, as well as others, obviously. Needless to say, I am not a fan of this secondary dike, despite the good it will do for everybody else. Call me selfish.
Up until the announcement of the secondary dikes, I have been fine mentally. Rick has been a bit of a basketcase. Controlled basketcase, but basketcase nonetheless. He's always been far more concerned about this than I have been. He wasn't excited about closing. I was. He was not feeling good about it. I was. Up until those secondary dikes, I was totally fine. After that, I admit, I shed a few tears. I was upset. I was suddenly in knots. I've gone in a few waves here and there about feeling good about things and feeling like I'm the center of target practice.
So that brings us to now. The river level stayed steady at 1553 point something as far as the height of the river over night last night. I know that doesn't mean anything to you. It doesn't mean anything to me either. But for perspective, the dikes are built to hold 1555 with a one foot clearance. So technically it could hold up to 1556, and the water would be brimming the tops of the dike. The water that is expected to be here (originally Thursday evening, now by earlier Thursday morning) is projected at 1557-1558. That's 1-2 feet above the dikes. Not good. Hence the evacuation and building of more dikes. (Of course the city and the national weather service have different projections, and it's all guess work anyway, but the outlook is not good on either front.)
Now they haven't ignored the main dike system. They have been building up and reinforcing like crazy. The national guard is here and everyone has been monitoring things 24-7 for quite some time. I'm really quite proud of our system and our people and how well we've been handling all this water. There has been sandbagging galore. I guess there is more water now than there was in the major flood of 1969. The difference is the dikes that they built after that. The dikes have been good enough for 42 years. Now, the DAY that we buy a nice new house, the dikes are no longer going to be enough. Crazy.
All along I've been wondering, am I foolish or faithful? Foolish or faithful? I have to be one of the two because I've never had any reservations about this house. I know Rick has, but we've still gone forward with things, in faith. But even now, I don't regret it. I don't wish we had not bought this house. I hate the fact that we are in this situation. I hate not knowing what is going to happen. I hate being diked in with the water on our side and no sandbags around our house. I hate that it's going to cost us lots of money whether we want to spend it or not if the water gets in the house. I hate the it seems inevitable that the water WILL get in the house and the question is just how MUCH. But all along I've been at peace. With the exception of the announcement of the secondary dikes. Then I had a nice emotional roller coaster dipping way down. But now, again, I feel at peace. I don't know. I am still wondering if I'm foolish or faithful. I have a headache and I'm definitely concerned, but I don't feel like we are doomed.
I have such mixed feelings as far as the house goes and as far as our things go. We have had to move our things several times now. We moved into the house and garage. We got the evacuation order and moved it all into the house. I felt good about what we had done. Then we decided to take some of the most important things out of the house such as paperwork and scrapbooks and journals and electronics and such. I felt like a pioneer sifting through our things trying to decide what was important enough to take and leave the rest. In some ways it's ALL important. In other ways, NONE of it is. So we went through and got our top priorities. I felt good about what we had taken and felt confident that the rest would be fine. Then came the announcement of the secondary dikes. I no longer felt so good, after hearing that the flood waters would be held in on top of us and not able to spread across square footage and lessen the blow for us. So we went through again and put things up as high as possible. Later we went back again and did more of the same. Then this morning Rick went back one last time to try to either move out the big furniture or prop it up on buckets or something. He worked up until the dike work was 50 feet from our house and were literally forced to get out or be trapped in.
Now we've done all we can do for ourselves and literally cannot do any more. All we can do now is wait and help other people where we can. As I type Grandpa and Rick are out sandbagging yet again. I am here trying to maintain my level of calm (if you listen too much to what is going on, you get REAL stressed REAL fast). In the end, stuff is stuff. The house is a structure. It will cost money to repair and/or rebuild/replace, but we are safe. That is what is important.
I am grateful for a safe and comfortable place to go. I have my mother's house to take refuge in. I don't have to go to the school or other shelter and depend on them for food and shelter. I have comforable accomodations and plenty to eat/drink/do. Our family is here together, safe and sound. We are blessed, despite what is happening around us and directly to our home and things. Things are things. Things can be replaced or done without. Family cannot. We are fortunate. Some people are dealing with tornadoes. Some have earthquakes and tsunamis. Right now we are dealing with flood water. And overall the situation is well controlled and monitored. We are just some of the unlucky few getting diked in. We are trying to be optimistic. There IS still a chance that the river will hold. There is a chance that if it doesn't hold, not much will go over. Or it will go over in areas other than our own. Fortune for one is misfortune for another. Just like secondary dikes.
Well I think I've said enough for now. I will try to keep the blog updated. I'm much better at keeping Facebook updated. We ask for faith and prayers from anyone and everyone. We need the dikes to hold, and we need no more rain. Thank you to those who have been praying for us. We are well and things are going as well as they can for the moment. We pray circumstances will not only not get worse, but that they will improve. Until later then.
Some background info for those not keeping up with the Heits on Facebook. Last you may have heard, we were trying to sell our condo because we found a beautiful house to buy. Well long story short, we did in fact get a nice family to buy our condo from us. It took one month and one day from the time we put it on the market to the time we got the offer. We got our asking price with us paying the closing costs, which was our best case scenario and the best we were hoping for.
Our buyers wanted to move the closing date back to May 31st, but other than the appraisals and inspections, that was the only bit of business that needed doing. No problem. Our owners were fine with changing the closing date. So we would be closing on both the condo and the house on the same day. That is great except we needed to get our stuff out of the condo before closing. But we couldn't get our stuff into the house until closing. What to do with our stuff in the meantime?
Well in the end the owners agreed to let us put our stuff in the garage and main floor of the house starting the weekend right before closing, as long as all the business with our condo sale was peachy. It was. So that's what we did. We got our stuff packed up and moving day was on May 28th.
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| Our friend James helped us a ton by letting us use this truck of his from work. We also had help from several friends and all the family members (that weren't working). I had to work for a few hours and Randy had to work. Grandpa Heit came later on to help out. |
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| This is nearly as full as the garage had to be. I was happy to be able to bring in the furniture and other bigger items and get them out of the moisture of the garage. Yes it is raining. I don't recommend moving in the rain, but you do what you gotta do when you gotta do it. Rain=not good for the near future, by the way. |
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| The rest of the Kelly clan getting things in order between loads. |
Moving day was Saturday the 28th. Sunday we took off. Monday the 30th was condo cleaning day. Us womenfolk went to work and took 5-6 hours and cleaned the condo out for preparation of closing the next day. It looked pretty spiffy. Luckily we didn't have to preclean the house because they had it professionally cleaned after the renters left.
Tuesday the 31st comes around. This is yesterday for those keeping track. We went in and closed on the condo and the house back to back. Everything was very smooth except they reimbursed us for the condo fee for June, but we hadn't payed it yet. So we just had to go make the payment that they already reimbursed us for and we were in business. Rick dropped me off at the house and went off to get milk, get a second garage door opener since there was only one, and to make copies of the key, since there was only one. Weird, I know. Who only has ONE key to their house?
I turn on the heat, huddle in a blanket for a bit, and call Auntie Beth to come over to brighten my day. I had asked Rick how he felt and he wasn't feeling too good. I was still excited and happy and was finding it hard to get going on the boxes. But I did start unloading my kitchen stuff. Auntie Beth came and started helping. And Grandma Heit also dropped by to help. Right before grandma Heit came over, we got the news.
There was going to be a mandatory evacuation for all of the flood zone areas. We are in flood zone number one. Flood zone number one doesn't necessarily mean we are the highest risk. They are numbered geographically 1-9. Either way, we were going to have to be out of the house/area by Thursday evening. (remember this is Tuesday) They didn't think the Mouse River was going to be able to hold the water that is on the way. Fabulous.
We knew going into this deal that the river was high. We are within two blocks of the river on 16th street, right in the middle between the underpass of Burdick and 16th, and the Arrowhead underpass. This is not the lowest point by the river. The lowest points are over by Sammy's and 3rd. So they are definitely in much more trouble than we are. They are zone five or six, if you care. We still had several feet of leeway before the river became a danger to us. And they had said that the river had already crested back in April-that it was as high as it was going to get for the season.
Well.
They were wrong. During the week before closing we had 5 or 6 inches of rain all throughout the basin. That was NOT helpful. They have been releasing water from other areas because I guess in Canada they are having some flooding issues, and the dams were at full or near to full capacity with the anticipation of more rain and water flowing in. Rain and thunderstorms are STILL in the forecast for Thursday and Friday.
So remember we were going to have to be out by the end of Thursday. The water was rising faster than anticipated and they upped the out time by 24 hours (out by Wednesday night) and announced that they would be hastily constructing some secondary dikes all along the river valley. That sounds peachy, doesn't it? It IS peachy unless, like us, you live on the WRONG side of that secondary dike. That secondary dike is now fully constructed in front of our house, which would hold the overflow from the river right on our house, as well as others, obviously. Needless to say, I am not a fan of this secondary dike, despite the good it will do for everybody else. Call me selfish.
Up until the announcement of the secondary dikes, I have been fine mentally. Rick has been a bit of a basketcase. Controlled basketcase, but basketcase nonetheless. He's always been far more concerned about this than I have been. He wasn't excited about closing. I was. He was not feeling good about it. I was. Up until those secondary dikes, I was totally fine. After that, I admit, I shed a few tears. I was upset. I was suddenly in knots. I've gone in a few waves here and there about feeling good about things and feeling like I'm the center of target practice.
So that brings us to now. The river level stayed steady at 1553 point something as far as the height of the river over night last night. I know that doesn't mean anything to you. It doesn't mean anything to me either. But for perspective, the dikes are built to hold 1555 with a one foot clearance. So technically it could hold up to 1556, and the water would be brimming the tops of the dike. The water that is expected to be here (originally Thursday evening, now by earlier Thursday morning) is projected at 1557-1558. That's 1-2 feet above the dikes. Not good. Hence the evacuation and building of more dikes. (Of course the city and the national weather service have different projections, and it's all guess work anyway, but the outlook is not good on either front.)
Now they haven't ignored the main dike system. They have been building up and reinforcing like crazy. The national guard is here and everyone has been monitoring things 24-7 for quite some time. I'm really quite proud of our system and our people and how well we've been handling all this water. There has been sandbagging galore. I guess there is more water now than there was in the major flood of 1969. The difference is the dikes that they built after that. The dikes have been good enough for 42 years. Now, the DAY that we buy a nice new house, the dikes are no longer going to be enough. Crazy.
All along I've been wondering, am I foolish or faithful? Foolish or faithful? I have to be one of the two because I've never had any reservations about this house. I know Rick has, but we've still gone forward with things, in faith. But even now, I don't regret it. I don't wish we had not bought this house. I hate the fact that we are in this situation. I hate not knowing what is going to happen. I hate being diked in with the water on our side and no sandbags around our house. I hate that it's going to cost us lots of money whether we want to spend it or not if the water gets in the house. I hate the it seems inevitable that the water WILL get in the house and the question is just how MUCH. But all along I've been at peace. With the exception of the announcement of the secondary dikes. Then I had a nice emotional roller coaster dipping way down. But now, again, I feel at peace. I don't know. I am still wondering if I'm foolish or faithful. I have a headache and I'm definitely concerned, but I don't feel like we are doomed.
I have such mixed feelings as far as the house goes and as far as our things go. We have had to move our things several times now. We moved into the house and garage. We got the evacuation order and moved it all into the house. I felt good about what we had done. Then we decided to take some of the most important things out of the house such as paperwork and scrapbooks and journals and electronics and such. I felt like a pioneer sifting through our things trying to decide what was important enough to take and leave the rest. In some ways it's ALL important. In other ways, NONE of it is. So we went through and got our top priorities. I felt good about what we had taken and felt confident that the rest would be fine. Then came the announcement of the secondary dikes. I no longer felt so good, after hearing that the flood waters would be held in on top of us and not able to spread across square footage and lessen the blow for us. So we went through again and put things up as high as possible. Later we went back again and did more of the same. Then this morning Rick went back one last time to try to either move out the big furniture or prop it up on buckets or something. He worked up until the dike work was 50 feet from our house and were literally forced to get out or be trapped in.
Now we've done all we can do for ourselves and literally cannot do any more. All we can do now is wait and help other people where we can. As I type Grandpa and Rick are out sandbagging yet again. I am here trying to maintain my level of calm (if you listen too much to what is going on, you get REAL stressed REAL fast). In the end, stuff is stuff. The house is a structure. It will cost money to repair and/or rebuild/replace, but we are safe. That is what is important.
I am grateful for a safe and comfortable place to go. I have my mother's house to take refuge in. I don't have to go to the school or other shelter and depend on them for food and shelter. I have comforable accomodations and plenty to eat/drink/do. Our family is here together, safe and sound. We are blessed, despite what is happening around us and directly to our home and things. Things are things. Things can be replaced or done without. Family cannot. We are fortunate. Some people are dealing with tornadoes. Some have earthquakes and tsunamis. Right now we are dealing with flood water. And overall the situation is well controlled and monitored. We are just some of the unlucky few getting diked in. We are trying to be optimistic. There IS still a chance that the river will hold. There is a chance that if it doesn't hold, not much will go over. Or it will go over in areas other than our own. Fortune for one is misfortune for another. Just like secondary dikes.
Well I think I've said enough for now. I will try to keep the blog updated. I'm much better at keeping Facebook updated. We ask for faith and prayers from anyone and everyone. We need the dikes to hold, and we need no more rain. Thank you to those who have been praying for us. We are well and things are going as well as they can for the moment. We pray circumstances will not only not get worse, but that they will improve. Until later then.
Chelsea turns FOUR!!!
Chelsea chose Ariel for her theme this year. She chose a funfetti cake with vanilla frosting. She enjoyed helping mix the batter and watching it bake. We turned the frosting blue and put little fishy shaped sprinkles on it.
The centerpiece.
I put pigtails and Brie's hair and immediately took a picture. Piggies tend to come out immediately and I wanted to document how adorable she looks with her hair actually done up. She looks so much more grown up with piggies.
Instead of having matching piggies with Brie, like I thought she might, Chelsea opted for a braid like Fawn instead. Fawn actually has her whole head of hair in a braid instead of just a little big, but who's keeping track?
Auntie Jennifer was in charge of some party games. In this one the first one (or team) to scoop all of their marshmallows from one cup into the cup on the other side of the room was the winner. This kept them occupied for a good 15-20 minutes!
The object of this one was to bat the balloon through the air across the room the fastest. Then back again. I've said it before, you can't go wrong with giving a kid a balloon. Just look at how much Brie is enjoying it!
And here we have potato bowling. I think us grown ups had more fun with this than the kids, hehe.
Birthday girl with her immedate family.
We call this one OCTOMOM. Ha! We actually stuffed a full 8 balloons into my shirt, but I have goofy faces in the other shots.
What's a party without prezzies?
Brie had a good ol' time going through the gifts and starting to play with things.
Brie was actually the first to ride Chelsea's new bike also. Do you think she enjoyed it? I'm just not sure....
Chelsea also loved her bike.It was too rainy to actually go out and ride, plus the dress was a little bit in the way, but she still LOVES it! Mommy made a good choice and guessed right at the size, whew!
After all the games were done and presents opened what did she do? Rescue worms off the driveway, of course!
Ironic how this is the best smile I got out of all my pictures this day. Worms. Whooda thunk?
Phantom sideways photo. I made a little bowl of jello with fishes just for fun. Nobody ate it (at least not during the party) but it was just for festive-ness anyway.
Daddy chose a fun game as his gift for Chelsea. Sumo Ham Slam. It's pretty cute. They are all enraptured.
And this is how game playing looks at our house: hands everywhere!
And a random cute photo of Brie. I found her like this one morning, holding her baby. Awww! She always sleeps way up on her pillow like this.
May Begins!
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| Brie tried on Chelsea's dance outfit and really enjoyed it. Isn't she cute? I also love the backpack. |
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| Someone found my roller blades. I'd love to be able to use them this summer, but I'm not the steadiest person on those things and I'd rather not fall down and kill a person or two. (not really kidding on that!) |
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| A message for me. Awww! |
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| Chels enjoys collecting dandelions and then "planting" them in this pot. She then waters them. She'll also run around to each little dandelion not yet picked and water them as well. |
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| Spaghetti for dinner! Brie tends to tire of her bib quickly and just takes it off. So rather than fight that fight, I just took her shirt off. She didn't seem to mind at all! She actually slurped down everything on her plate and then some from mine! Growth spurt! |
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| Chels perfers her noodles plain except for LOTS of parmesan cheese. She also cleared her plate, amazingly. Could both my girls be going through a growth spurt at the same time? That would be amazing. I could get used to them actually eating what I give them to eat. Sometimes I don't know how they are still alive, they eat so little. Oh, this is Chelse'as "tooth" that she insisted I take a picture of. :) |
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| Later on, the girls and I made some cookies. Brie got into my sugar and started eating it, so I switched it with some flour. Her face was hilarious when she licked it for the first time. She didn't quit licking, but she licked a lot less. Ha! I'm not quite sure what she was thinking here, but it's funny! |
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| Flour on the nose. Cheese! Too cute! |
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| We were able to score a free big wheel for Chelsea the week before her birthday. We already planned to buy her a bike, but who can't use a free big wheel? She loves it. |
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| Running around in the backyard. I could get used to this summer weather. The girls can run and run and run and then sleep all night long like a log. I like it that way. :) |
Finishing April off with the Circus!
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| Never go to the circus without springing for popcorn or other munchies. At least that is a rule at our house. :) |
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| My kiddos didn't sit still the entire time. Brie started out sitting on Auntie Beth's lap, to mine, to Rick's, to mine, to sharing a seat with Chelsea as seen here, to mine...you get the idea. |
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| Here is the intermission where the zoo folk make tons of money off of us parents trying to keep out kiddos entertained. Yep, we paid for a pony ride. She loved it! Brie would have liked it probably, but she just got to walk around and look at things. I tried to talk Chelsea into an elephant ride instead because I think that would be neat, and she almost went for it. But she went for the tried and true ponies instead. I'm glad she enjoyed it! |
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| What cuties I have in my family. I love the fact that my husband is so involved in the lives of me and the kids. He is SO wonderful! |
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| And who can go to the circus without paying for a little annoying music playing light up gadget? Not us! The girls both loved it. I think it might get lost soon though... |
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| And here is Chelsea's version of our family. I love the empty spaces for the bodies. Most kids draw the arms and legs right off of the head at first. But not Chelsea. No bodies, but at least our arms and legs don't come out of our ears and chins, hehe. |
Easter Festivities and Other Cuteness
I think it's a rule that all kids must discover the joys of playing under tables. I know I did as a kid. Brie is no exception.
Chels wanted me to take her picture, and made this face. What a goof.
The kid version of reading on the potty.
Now on to some Easter fun times. We went to the zoo for an egg hunt. Brie would not walk on the sidewalk. She would only walk on this little strip between the sidewalk and fence.
It wasn't always easy to stay only on that small space, but she did it.
They divided up the kids by age groups. Brie had a good old time finding her eggs.
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| Chelsea had to wait till her age group had their hunt. She sadly waited, watching Brie do her hunt first. |
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| They held the kids off the field until the whistle sounded. |
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| Waiting in anticipation for the whistle. Still no voluntary smiles, just goofy faces in my general direction. |
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| Showing her loot. They had a six egg limit. Certain eggs had prizes in them, and if you got other certain eggs they were redeemable for prizes at the counter. No special eggs for us, but it wasn't a big deal. She had fun running out there. |
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| Here is where you turn your eggs in and exchange it for a bag of goodies. I kind of like that they do it that way. Rather than stuffing each egg, they make sure each kid gets a fair amount of loot. Plus bottles of bubbles don't fit in little Easter eggs. |
Peek! Mommy sneaks into the shot.
This video is what Brie looked like after looking at the lions. The lady lion was upset by the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people suddenly making a noise in her once quiet home. I was on the other side of the lion cage when the lady lion roared and kind of pounced toward some people on the other side-some of whom were Brie and Auntie Beth. I thought Brie would be spooked, but she wasn't. She was just sprayed by mud from the lion's messy den.
We had a great Easter!
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