HIGH RIVER STRONG!
After 7 Weeks we were finally back in our home with a new fridge! the weather here in High River and surrounding areas in Alberta hasn't been kind to us this summer, we were still getting storm after storm after storm until about 2 weeks ago, I feel like I have been in a whirlwind and its only just beginning to settle down now. We were able to get back into the house on June 29th, 9 days after the flood. It was heartbreaking to see this;
The garden was smothered in about 6 inches of mud!
It looked like a bomb had gone off inside...
All the Christmas stuff was in the closet in this room.
We had already taken loads of boxes etc that had been tipped over out of this room.
All the kids toys and books were ruined, a lot from when our kids were small.
Hubby had to kick in some of the doors as the furniture had floated in the water and as it drained it moved toward the doors. Everything had to be thrown out as it was submerged in river water and sewage, leaving us about 4" of mud to wallow in while we took everything up the stairs and outside.
It was unbelieveable just how things move around in the water, things were upside down and in different rooms. Sadly Mum and Dads house has to be rebuilt as it was sitting in the middle of a lake where the water pooled for a further 3 weeks or so!
The police broke into the houses to make sure there were no people or pets left inside, in some areas they had to bring in corpse divers just in case :O(
There were some laughs though, and a few tears!
After numerous hours of help and cleanup from many friends and some volunteers we managed to clear out the entire contents of the basement in our bungalow, the water had risen to around 7 foot for 24 hours or so, then settled at about 4 foot deep until it drained, its amazing the damage water can do!
The lady on the right is Corinne, she gave up 2 whole weekends and a public holiday to help us, along with Ed, a friend of hubby's. THANK YOU SO MUCH! To our other Friends and Dan who helped us Thank You also, we couldn't of done it without you XXX
The weather was extremely hot during that first week, thank goodness for the RED CROSS, neighbours and strangers who all gave gave
WATER, FOOD, CLEANING ITEMS, FRIENDSHIP AND HUGS.
The road opposite ours you couldnt see up it for peoples lives tossed out on the pavements, dump trucks, pump trucks, police, fire and ambulances were everywhere, there were people driving around handing out Pizzas, mosquito spray, sun screen, juice, sandwiches everything you could think of!
2 weeks ago we laid 2 pallets of grass so the dogs have somewhere to play, the garden looks almost back to normal, still a lot of work to do though outside, the amount of water was incredible, if I hadn't lived through it I would never of believed the devastation it caused to the town and its people.
We are now onto the next stage, waiting for the insurance!
Hope to have some stitching to show you over the next few weeks. Bye for now....
