Monday, May 3, 2010

How High's The Water, Mama?




8.2 inches of rain in two days.  It's been a long time since I've seen this much rain in so little time.  The mayor of one Tennessee town called it historical.  Last night, for me and my boys, it was more like -- hysterical.

We went up the road in the daylight hours, drove through the water on our road with no problem.  We returned 90 minutes later in the dark.  It never dawned on me that the level would rise so fast.  I realized it when my car stalled halfway into the knee-deep water,  I was able to back up and thought we would be able to get out of it.  That's when the water grabbed ahold of my car and swept it into a nearby ditch, almost flipping the automobile over on its side. We were able to exit the vehicle with little trouble, although Elijah literally had to "stand up" on the passenger side door and climb out.  That's how sideways the car was in the high water.

Then we had to wade through the knee-deep water in the pouring rain.  We were up until midnight bailing water from the floorboard.

We made it without any injuries and that is all that matters.  The water continued to rise on our road and this morning we had a small lake in front of our home.

But, as it goes, anytime you think you have it bad, you don't have to look too far to find someone else who has it worse than you.  17 people lost their lives in the region during the rains and the flooding that ensued.  While we are thankful that we were spared, our hearts go out to the families of those 17 people.


My mama always taught me that good things come from adversity if we put our faith in the Lord. We couldn't see much good in the flood waters when they were causing us to have to leave home, but when the water went down, we found that it had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt across our land. The following year we had the best cotton crop we'd ever had.

I remember hearing:
How high's the water, mama?  Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Two feet high and risin'

We can make it to the road in a homemade boat. That's the only thing we got left that'll float.  It's already over all the wheat and the oats, two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, mama?  Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa? Three feet high and risin'

2 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to get out safely.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you. It was a horrifying experience. I will be glad when we can finally go back home.

    ReplyDelete

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