The Experience, Part I: The Flood

The storm is coming, you know that much. The TV has been blaring all day about it. There'll be lots of rain, maybe some flash-flooding in the streets, on the roads. You even know a few places around that might flood, places right down by the river. But your place is alright, well out of the usual flooding areas. So you close the place up, make sure your car is safely parked out from under any trees, and you stay in for the night. It rains, no big deal. A lot of rain, but you're perfectly safe. You go to sleep.

You wake up because of the movement, and the sound. Your bed is floating.

Look up from your computer for a moment. Whereever you are--home, cafe, office, park--pick a spot on the wall, right at eye level. Go ahead, take a second. Find an actual spot on the wall at eye level, or maybe the back of a chair, bottom of a picture frame...something like that. Got it? Good.

That's the waterline.

That's where the water rises to, when you're gone. That's the level the water stays at for days. And not crystal clear bottled water--muddy, brown, sewage-filled water. Use your imagination, really picture that. The room you are sitting in right now...filled with water up to that line. Take another moment now, a longer one this time. Look carefully around the room, and really see everything in the room below that water line. What have you lost? Everything paper is gone, no chance there. Personal papers? A file cabinet full of tax returns? A shelf full of all your books? A safe with your birth certificate inside? All gone.

Furniture? Most likely destroyed. Any fabric--cushions, chair backs, etc--all of that unrecoverable. You can possibly save any solid wood pieces of furniture (not particle board), if they dry without warping. How much solid wood furniture do you have? Oh, that reminds you: your carpeting is all destroyed, and will have to be replaced. All of it. And the linoleum. And all the drywall: you'll have to rip out all of the walls, and put up all new ones. But that's getting too far ahead. We haven't even sorted through your belongings yet.

If you're brave, right now as you're reading this, take a piece of paper, and start keeping track of the things you've 'lost' that hurt the most. Family pictures? Book collection? Flat screen TV? Your favorite table, or house plant? Do you have a pet? Did you get home before the water hit to get it out in time? Do you have a basement? Don't even look in there right now.

Your car outside? The same story. Fabric and seats, all destroyed. What can be saved and cleaned will cost a lot of money (like cleaning all the sewage out of the vents and ducts...). Add that to the drywall/paint/furniture/carpeting you'll have to replace inside, which doesn't include replacing all of your lost personal belongings. The total is rising pretty fast: $20,000 easily, for a small place and medium-sized car. How is your bank account? What kind of job do you have? Oh. Your job is in the same town...and flooded. Now where to go for money?

More importantly, where do you go to live? Your place is, literally, unlivable. It's unsafe, unhealthy, and the authorities simply will not let you stay there. Your friends in town? They're in the same boat, most likely. So you're going to be moving...in order to find a place to live, find a job. Back in with your parents? Friends in a different state, or city? What sort of work will you be able to find on short notice?

Take another look around you, right now. Look at the list of everything you've lost. Think of where you'll be living, what work you might be doing. And it's going to be that way for months...maybe years. Your life will be nothing like it is right now. I hope you're ready.