We Made it Through the Rain, Now What?

We have new neighbors.

They have been building their house throughout the pandemic. We watched every step and had the pleasure through most of the quarantine and summer to have their boys visit our boys almost every day.

The night before what would become, for us, Ground Zero, we had a beautiful dinner together. There were eight of us and one on the way, and we laughed and talked about the future. I was excited about our ideas for the house we had just moved into in February. It was a five-year plan.

As it started to get late with a small hurricane named Sally on the way, we made plans for our oldest boys to have a sleepover. They were thrilled. It was the first of I’m sure many to come, back and forth across the street.

Midnight came with a tornado warning. I went upstairs and asked the kids to grab a blanket and pillow and meet me in my closet in the house’s center downstairs. After about an hour, we got the all-clear, and everyone went back to bed, including me.

I slept so well that night.

At 5:22 am, I awoke to my husband tapping me ever so gently. His words, “Baby, don’t freak out, but I think we are about to take water on in the house.” I lept from the bed and ran to the glass doors along the back of our bedroom. The water had already submerged our pool and was almost to the top of our stairs leading to the back porch.

As a result, I immediately went into survival mode for anything I could get to higher ground.  I grabbed the clothes on the lower hanging racks in our closet and moved them to our bed. Along with all of the shoes, I could immediately see. Later I would remember the divided containers under the bed, alas too late. We would also lose most of our furniture and all of our appliances. I was thankful for the pedestals under the washer and dryer that my husband insisted on for our aging backs.

It seemed to rain forever, and the wind blew and blew and blew. Chris would continuously say, “Just twenty more minutes, and we will be out of the eyewall.” That twenty minutes lasted for seven hours.

We made it through the rain.

As a result, we would be upstairs for over 24 hours, stranded on our little island with three dogs. By God’s grace, we never lost power or the internet. Because of this, the children would remain calm, and we could continue to watch the weather updates.

The water continued up onto both the front and back porch. It had already long since half-submerged our vehicles. In fact, in the garage, our brand new refrigerator sealed so well it floated, bounced off the hood of the car, and landed between the vehicle and the door leading into the house. The water slowly started seeping through the doorways. There was no way to stop it.

As a result, we had around a foot and a half of water in the house before it started receding. Sally came in with about a six-foot storm surge at the worst time of day, high tide. On top of that, we had thirty-eight inches (yes, over three feet!) of continuous rain. Oh, and did I mentioned the hurricane moved as slow as a sloth riding a tortoise?

We made it through the rain, now what?

We lost all of our furniture, which we had just purchased before moving into the house in February of 2020. The downstairs had been gutted, and after studying the house, the mitigator found moisture in the walls upstairs as well, so the upstairs was also gutted, and the furniture that we could save was moved to storage.

Today, we are six months post-Sally. Our family of four and three (fifty-plus pound) dogs is currently living in a camper in our driveway. In the beginning, it was a fun and new experience. It has brought us closer as a family. However, there are days that it feels as if the walls are slowly closing in.

We are slowly rebuilding our house. At the rate we are going, the estimated move back in time is June. That will be nine months after the storm and the beginning of our next hurricane season.

On the positive side, all the things we were looking to do in a few years will be done a little over a year after we initially moved into the house. It will be precisely the way we want it and a beautiful place to live for the duration of the boy’s school years. Our plan was for this to be our last home before retirement. This is still the plan.

I pray that we never do this again.

I pray that the Gulf Coast is spared during hurricane seasons for the next few years. 2020 was a devastating blow to a lot of cities along the coast. There are still blue tarps and displaced families everywhere, from the Louisiana-Texas coastline to Florida.

We made it through the rain. What have I learned?

I have learned a lot of valuable lessons over the past six months. Lessons that really apply to any unexpected challenges in life, not just a hurricane.

Look for the Helpers

Mr. Rogers once said, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” So many people came out to help those in need in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally. Everyone coming together for the greater good of our community is the silver lining in any crisis. For us, we had friends providing meals and helping us pack and move our belongings into storage. I will never be able to thank them enough.

Everything Can Be Replaced

While it has been a logistical nightmare at times to coordinate insurance, document damages, and make large-scale repairs while being displaced from our home, I am constantly reminded that the things we lost can be replaced. Even though our lives may look a little different – we are living. And that is what matters.

But Most Importantly…

I have learned that the rain, no matter how long or how hard it thrashes, will eventually pass. We will make it though. Not alone, but with the support and love of our community and of those around us.