Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Approx, three am my husband woke me up and said we need to go now. I looked out the front window at him and noticed the water was almost up to his knees. Most of the bags were already in the vans. We rounded up the dogs and the kids and headed for the vans and the neighbors. We had already put the car seats in and staged them if we had to go.

The water was to my knees at the front door and I carried Katherine on my back to the van, we got the dogs in Gary�s van and headed to the neighbors.  Gary stayed behind to turn off the power.  We parked on the turn where the road was dry and began walking in to get the kids.

We knew from the evening before that the yard at 733 Mickey Inn Lane had developed sink holes and struck to the road and the driveway.  When I entered the water from the dry road the water got deeper as we neared the porch.  I waited on the drive way side of the porch at 733 Mickey Inn Lane and felt the water creeping from mid thigh, to my hips in less than 15 minutes.  Lauren handed me Aiden and went back for Donovan.  As I walked out the drive and to my van the road which had been dry now contained water well over my ankles.   I put Aiden in the car and Lauren and Donovan were right behind me.  After putting the kids in the car and getting in our selves, we noticed that Gary had come over to help the Abrahams, both of whom are disabled, and decided to evacuate, get out of their house and to their car, with their cats and dog.  Their son Josh assisted them. 

Just as I started to drive out of the development an emergency looking vehicle blocked my path.  I started to try to go around and after much yelling from the neighbors and my husband the vehicle finally moved and we were able to get out and head to the Super 8 Motel.  My husband had made arrangements with Sara Abrahams, Donovan and Aiden�s mom, to get us a room for the night at least.

We got the kids settled and Gary decided he had to go back and see how bad it was.  The following pictures were taken by him at 6 am. 

At 6:30 am Wednesday morning I decided to go to work and monitor the situation from there.   I got as far as Exit 47 on interstate 81 and my Van shut off and wouldn�t start.  I called AAA and got them to tow me to Lane�s Garage.  THANK GOD IT DIDN�T DO THAT AT 3:30 am this morning was all I could think Gary picked me up at Lane�s and I decided I wanted to see the house.  We went via Route 11 N because most of the other roads to get back to Mickey Inn were closed. As we approached Main Street, Scotland, we noticed cars from our development along the road.  We did not see a SINGLE emergency vehicle. We stopped and parked right of theY and walked down to the entrance to the development talking to neighbors along the way.  As I enter the development, the water was to my knees and reached my hips close to the house.  I made it to the picnic table before my knee started hurting.  The current was amazingly strong.  I took these photos from my perch on the picnic table;

I decided that I need to see the inside of my house and see if I could find Ginger, our cat. These pictures are from going into the house, the house, and coming back out of the development.

At approximately 1:30 pm we returned to the motel.  I made arrangements for a rental car and took a nap while Lauren & Kate played XBOX with the neighbors.  Lauren came in about 2:30 and stated that the Red Cross was in the Lobby and they were helping the evacuees by paying for hotel rooms. The Lady wanted to know why I hadn�t registered at the evacuation point and I ask what evacuation point?  After contemplating whether she could help me or not because I hadn�t gone to the evacuation point. I later learned this evacuation point was the Green Township Building on Sunset Drive, not the Scotland Community Center.  She filled out the paper work and the Red Cross paid for Wednesday and Thursday nights at the Super 8. (Whatever you do, DON�T TRY TO HIDE FOUR DOGS IN YOUR HOTEL ROOM! It doesn�t work very well.)

Wednesday evening we hung out in the hotel lobby watching TV and trying to find out any information we could about if the water had gone down, etc.  I ran into Mike Neafsey, a fellow AFSCME Member, who was returning to his home in Fayetteville that had been flooded out.  We discussed the lack of warning, the stress, and the lack of where to go or what to do.