Review - The Flood pt. 1: The way-aking is the hardest part

The night before the major flooding there was already noticeable rising in creeks and streams in the area. At one point it looked like it might already be getting bad. But the rain stopped for awhile and the streets dried up again. It was pretty late already, around 12 I believe, when my brother and I took a drive to the park out behind our place. The baseball diamond was already flooded, but not to the extent it would be. It was dark but I still tried to snap a few pictures and grab some video. Unfortunately I don't have the equipment anymore to transfer my camera's video, so any video I post will be from my brother's Blackberry.

It's not the easiest to see, but the water covered most of the park. However it was already receding back into the stream. 

My brother worked at a motel that offered cheap weekly rates. He worked there for several years as assistant manager and had an apartment in the back. For a time I had also worked there and I still lived there with him. The motel geographically is about forty feet higher than the park, right on the other side of what is normally a very low and safe creek. It sits on the back side of the motel, a quiet little section with only one real apartment. Ours. At this point I wasn't worried about it flooding like it did. There were supposed to be other storms moving through, but it wasn't predicted to do anywhere near the record numbers  it did. 

Still, other parts of the state were already flooded, so it seemed like a good idea to keep watch for awhile. My brother and I stayed up till about five in the morning waiting to see if the rain would resume. When it seemed like all was quiet we finally went to sleep. A few hours later we were awoken by the housekeeper pounding on the door. My brother threw on some clothes and headed out, I stumbled about in fog trying to wave off the dreams that were struggling to pull me back into sleep. I managed to get up and dressed, while my brother shot this with his phone.

About two minutes after he shot that, I had my camera out and snapped the following pictures.

That should give you an idea of how quick the water was coming up. I had charged my camera only shortly the night before so I could film the park. I barely had a charge so I had to conserve what I shot. I can hear all the photographers out there yelling at me to always keep your camera charged and ready to go. Believe me, I've been kicking myself. Especially since a few years back I'd made sure to have my camera charged so I could film a tornado that almost took us out. But that's a story for another day.

When my brother saw his truck the water level was barely low enough that if he had gone then he might have gotten it out. Instead he came back to get me. In the two minutes I took to grab the laptop, my wallet, and the camera, the water had risen too high to get the truck out. We opted to head towards the front office and higher ground. 

Around, people stood in the doorways looking on. They watched as the water rose, but didn't seem to understand the severity. I told who I passed by to head up. My brother much more forceful than I, yelled at them. This at least made some of them get into motion. Before I stepped into the parking lot, which was already a foot and a half high, I passed by several rats, struggling to get into the people's rooms. I had a momentary flash, remembering a stupid study I'd learned in 7th grade science about how long a rat could keep swimming till it found ground. I believe it was a study on adrenaline. It didn't matter though, so I quickly brushed it out of my head and stepped into the water that was surely a mix of river, rain, and sewage. 

The water rose higher as we walked. I stumbled around, trying not to fall in. I knew the lot well, or thought I did. Underwater I seemed to find every pothole and curb. By the time we reached higher ground, the water I had just gone through was right about 3-4 feet high. Roughly in about 3 minutes time. The manager who had a room by the front office, was hanging out the door with his daughters looking on. He watched us wading through the flood, but didn't seem to understand what that meant for him. After both my brother and I yelled at him to get going, he looked at us and asked, "Is it really that serious?"

We left him, and as I understand it, he did actually move his car to "safety," which is to say, four parking spots over. Everyone we passed by, we told to leave. It was clear then that the entire complex would go under. The only logical next step was to head over to the Kroger's across the street. It was at this point, on the higher side of the property, that my brother shot the following with his phone:

Once across the street, I sat for a few minutes in a Subway shop, dripping wet. I found that despite everything, I really hadn't woken up, so I used this moment to fully become conscious. Then I was back outside. I shot a bit of video that I wish I could show here but, as I said, I no longer have the hardware for that. The road was quickly filling up with water even as others continued to cross. It was even starting to pour into the Kroger's lot. As Kroger's had locked it's doors against any people fleeing the flood, it was decided we'd head over to the Best Western across the side street. We figured we'd all get a room there on a higher floor. As we trudged onward, a little group now, the water behind kept rising.

More tomorrow in part 2