I was so surprised because for one thing, I didn't even know it had been raining that hard or that long and for another, our creek wasn't ever supposed to flood. It was engineered to flood out into the open field on the other side of the creek!
While we were talking, our dear friends, Dave and Shelly Trane, were literally inspired to stop by to see if Mike was doing ok and while they were there they went downstairs to check our sump pump in Hannah's closet. They moved a storage bin out of the way and the pipe from the pump burst! Water started spraying everywhere and if they hadn't been there at that precise moment, our basement would have flooded then! Luckily, Dave is an amazing handyman and was able to fix the pipe within a few seconds and that sump pump pumped steadily for the next several weeks! (It eventually couldn't keep up and the water started backing up when the flooding was at it's worst, but what we got was a couple of inches of clean, groundwater as opposed to those around us who got feet of muddy water in their basements.) We couldn't believe our fortune and the tender mercies of the Lord during the flood and after have been incredible.
When I arrived back at Denver International Airport, Joel, met me and took me over to his and Erin's house in Arvada. It was raining pretty hard and there were spots on the freeway that were quite deep and it looked like they might be closing down parts of the freeway soon. Their house seemed fine and Joel went back to work while I waited for our home teacher, Stuart Snow, to come get me. Mike was busy making sure our sump pump was ok and getting a lot of our basement belongings moved upstairs.
When Stuart and I arrived our cul-de-sac was already full of water! The creek in back was up to our back picket fence! It was pretty scary! Mike had left my car down near our park so that we would be able to get out if we needed to. It was amazing that just a few houses down our block, it looked completely normal, but our end of the cul-de-sac was swiftly becoming a flood zone!
We weren't sure what to do and the creek just kept rising. At about 4:00 pm on September 12, 2013, the Longmont Police Department started coming door to door in our neighborhood telling us we had to evacuate. It was getting pretty deep out front and they waited while our neighbor Kay and us got our things together and they were going to drive us out. I still had my bag packed from my Utah trip so I was ready to go in a couple of minutes. I had finished moving photo albums and books and other valuable items up from the basement and felt like the house was about as secure as it could be.
We were just heading out the door, when Mike asked the police officer if he "had" to go. The police said they couldn't force him but that they wouldn't be coming back for him later. Mike made the decision to stay with the house and keep an eye on the sump pump and the pets. The Trane's loaned us their generator in case the power went out and he wanted to make the switch over if it became necessary. It all happened so fast and all of a sudden I was leaving alone with my neighbor in the police car, that by the way, had water coming into the floor boards in the back seat where we were! They took us to the park where we got into my car and I dropped Kay off at a friend's house and I went to stay at the Snow's in Niwot. They were so kind and helpful to us during the flood. He is such a great home teacher and they are very good friends!
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| This is what it looked like when I evacuated on Thursday afternoon. |
It was a very "exciting" and scary time in our community! The creeks and rivers were all rising and the potential for flooding was increasing with each hour. I was glad to be where it was safe and dry and high on a hill, but I was worried about Mike and whether it was wise for him to have stayed behind. Our Elder's, Elder Gibelyou and Elder Haywood, had an impression to stop by so they parked up by the park and waded in to see if Brother Moore was ok. He had made dinner and had a lot of leftovers and they were starved so they ate some dinner and then decided that they would stay the night at our house to help Brother Moore if necessary. What a miracle that was!
They decided to take shifts with sleeping and keep watch on the water level. I forgot to mention another miracle---some of our wonderful neighbors from up the street had come through the neighborhood and made sand bags for us and some of our other neighbors who backed up to the creek. They made them from white garbage bags and rocks and dirt and whatever they could find and put them around our basement windows. We feel like they really helped our house to not flood. We will be forever grateful for those wonderful people who thought to do that kind act of service for us and our neighbors.
Anyway, the missionaries fell asleep on the basement floor and Mike came down about 3 a.m. and woke them up in a panic and told them they had to go NOW! They actually moved the TV upstairs first, something I told Mike to not do, and then they grabbed his bag and Molly and they waded out. The water was up to the porch at this point in the front and starting to seep into the window wells in the back! They waded in waist high water to their car. They brought Mike and Molly to me and then took another hour trying to find a route that wasn't under water back to their home in Erie with Brother and Sister Holland. We were truly grateful for them. I would love to have had a picture of the three of them wading through with one missionary holding Mike's bag above his head and the other holding Molly above his head and Mike leading the way!
At this point, the Fire Department had come into the neighborhood and were evacuating those who had stayed. Some of our neighbors were taken out in boats! Our neighbors, Roger and Gail and their boys, packed back packs and went over their back fence and walked to Hover where they were given a ride to Niwot High School (it had been set up as a shelter).
We tried to get a little sleep, but it was so hard to not lay there wide awake worrying about our home and our neighborhood being swept away. There were other neighborhoods that were hit hard as well. On Friday morning, we went back. The worst of the flooding hit around 3 a.m. or so when Mike and others were fleeing. The creek surged a couple of times and came crashing into our neighbors basements, breaking windows and bringing anywhere from 18 inches to 7 feet of mud and water and destruction into their homes.
We got home and our cul-de-sac was stilled filled with water, but it had receded considerably by this point. We feared the worst, but as we went into our basement, we found only a couple of inches of fairly clean, clear water. It pretty much covered our entire basement, but it wasn't deep and it wasn't muddy! We felt truly blessed. We immediately went to work! We had the Trane's helping with their shop vac and Brother Snow with his and the missionaries were helping and we all worked steadily trying to get the water out fast. We made some headway, but the carpets were soaked and had to come out.
Another miracle happened when we phoned our carpet installer (he had put in our new carpet two years ago when we moved in) to ask his advice and he happened to be at the Longmont Home Depot. He was able to come right over and he had someone with him who could assist in getting our carpet out. By Saturday afternoon, our carpets and pads were out and all the water in our basement was gone. None of our furniture was ruined! We were truly reeling with how many tender mercies we were receiving. Some people said it was because we had two missionary children serving in the mission field. Whatever the reason, we were so grateful and felt the desire to help our neighbors who hadn't fared as well.
Within a couple of hours after a few phone calls, our neighborhood was filled with about 100 members from our ward and stake who were all eager to help! It was incredible to say the least! We had people in our basement helping get the carpet out and moving furniture around and there were people with shovels and wheelbarrows trying to help get the water out of the cul-de-sac. Several people brought fans and they were all over our basement. Joel and Erin came to our aide and helped out all day Saturday. Our Stake President, President Richards and his family brought a 4-wheeler with a shovel on the front and they were helping get the mud and water out of our little driveway area at the end of our cul-de-sac. Everyone was so helpful. We had teams going into our neighbors houses and working with shop vacs and getting those basements cleaned out as soon as possible. We all knew that it doesn't take long for mold to start forming and time was of the essence.
Another miracle for us, was that I got a text from my ex-sister-in-law, Karen Merrill, saying that some good friends of theirs were in Longmont and they were professional flood experts and could we use their help? They came to our home and we ended up using their services. With the help of some wonderful church members and neighbors, we got all of our baseboards off and these guys set up two large de-humidifiers and 33 industrial fans around our basement aimed at the bottoms of the drywall. We had to get them dried asap so that the mold wouldn't start growing. We covered all our heater vents upstairs and then cranked the heat up as high as it would go and with the fans, the de-humidifiers, and the heat we were completely dried out within two days.
We stayed at the Snow's for a couple of days. It was so nice to have a place to go that was clean and dry where we could plan and re-group. They kept Molly for us for several days which helped out so much! Lucy remained home throughout the whole ordeal and seemed to be ok through it. She did a lot of hiding in the piano and in her special drawer in the living room coffee table!
Here are some pictures of not only our house, but some of our neighbors as well.
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| Stuart Snow shoveling mud out of our garage. |
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| You can get an idea of how high the water came up. |
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| We didn't get too much mud in our basement, but our yard was pretty trashed. |
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| Another miracle was that this power box was completely under water, but we never lost power! We were without internet for about a week and that was annoying, but it was certainly not as bad as it could have been if we had lost power or if our water had been contaminated--both of which happened in other areas that were hit by the flood. |
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| Two of our heroes! Elder Gibelyou and Elder Haywood. They worked their tails off for our community |
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| Our wonderful Relief Society brought lunch and we set it up in our garage for all those that came out to help from our ward and stake and for our neighbors. It was a very wonderful and emotional time. |
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| Our next door neighbors, Marty and Kay Evans |
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| Our Stake President, President Richards and his wife, Shyrl, and their kids were right in the middle of the mess. |
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| The Elders and Sisters from our mission helped our neighborhood for many days and also helped all over the city and Lyons and Estes Park for weeks afterwards. They were amazing and so very much appreciated for their hard work. |
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| Some of our favorite helpers, Joel and Erin! |
Needless to say, our neighborhood was overwhelmed and grateful for the outpouring of love and service that was shared by so many. Ours was the first neighborhood to be allowed back in after the flood, so we had an over-abundance of aide because everyone wanted to help and there weren't many options open at this point. Over the next few days and then weeks, the opportunities were extensive! FEMA came in and the city went to work and it was an amazing process of cleaning up and beginning to recover and rebuild.
More to follow soon....
1 comment:
Still hard to believe.
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