When it rains it pours; and that is much more than just a shallow metaphor. In the rains that fell on the East Texas area last night, my parents home fell victim to flash flooding for the third time in four years! They had lived in, and or owned that residence for more than twenty years, and now floods in the last three out of four years. How does this happen? What changed? Was it the development taking place on their neighbor’s property? Over the last few years they have made significant changes to their property which, I’m told, may have altered the flow of the creek that runs through my parents land. Whatever the reason it’s hard to know what to do or where to begin to clean up.
Upon seeing the devastation I made the usual phone calls, first my brothers and sisters, my parent’s pastor, my priest, etc. Next, hoping to raise attention and spur quicker clean-up and action on the part of their insurance company, (who knows whether or not it will work), I called the local news stations. Both KLTV and KETK sent out camera men and reporters, to record the scene, and both men were courteous and concerned. But KLTV reporter Layron Livingston in particular, was terrific. He spent at least an hour speaking with the family, taking pictures inside and outside of the house, and generally taking an interest in what was happening to a local family.
It’s hard to believe that we’re here yet again! It’s like having déjà vu two times over only worse each time. So now begins again the process of clean up and recovery; vacuuming up the water and mud, the smell of mold and mildew, fans running in every corner of the house, and of course removing and replacing the old wet sheetrock. It’s a long process to put one’s life back in order after that kind of horrible interruption, and living amongst the construction becomes a battle to achieve some kind of normalcy, not to mention a feeling of cleanliness. With more rain due in overnight tonight and then again next week, there’s no telling for sure when the work will begin in earnest.
At the end of the day I am thankful that I and my family live in the Tyler community. The support of friends, family and our respective local churches, will make all the difference in process of rebuilding. I’m sure that over the next few months I will be able to provide the occasional update on how things are developing. To read more about our family’s crisis, see Mr. Livingston’s piece on the KLTV website at http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=12631614.