September 14 is a
bad date for hurricanes. On September 14, 2018, Hurricane Florence hit North
Carolina. Ten years earlier, on September 14, 2008, the remnants of Hurricane
Ike caused wide-spread flooding in Northwest Indiana and wrecked havoc on our own
house.
Last week I wrote
about Hurricane Florence and how it was affecting my cousins. Since then I’ve
learned that the ones in Wilmington are safe and should be close to normal
soon. My Topsail Island cousin returned to a home still standing but significantly
damaged. It will take her longer to get back to normal.
I know how that
feels. Ten years ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ike took less than 24 hours to
drop ten inches of rain on Northwest Indiana. The Little Calumet River
overflowed its banks a few blocks from our house, and we fled north to stay on our
sailboat at the Hammond Marina. It was a week before we could get to the house
and two-and-a-half before we could move back home. Even then, we were reduced
to living in half the house for several months while reconstructing the rest.
The water came up
about five feet on the lower level of our tri-level home, practically
destroying the laundry room, the second bathroom, and the family room. Our
family room was lined with bookshelves, and Roland likes to joke that he filled
a dumpster with the books he had to throw out. A heart-wrenching circumstance for
booklovers. The water rose almost a foot in our office, the garage, and the
rooms behind them that we had been using for storage. But the living room and
kitchen were raised slightly and didn’t have any damage. Neither did the top
floor with the bedrooms and the other bathroom. So we returned home as soon as
the town cleared the house for habitation.
The first picture
shows the rubbish piled along Jackson Avenue as people cleared out their homes.
And that’s AFTER the dumpsters had been taken away. The next picture shows the
stairs down to the lower level as we gutted the ruined parts of the house with
help from church and other friends. I don’t know what we would have done
without them.
We were very
fortunate to have great friends and good flood insurance.
But I feel for
everyone who has suffered from Hurricane Florence.
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