My heart is broken. Parts of Baton Rouge & the surrounding areas are inundated with water. Think Hurricane Katrina but without levees or a hurricane - absolutely zero time to prepare. Tons & tons & tons of rain. My parents had 28 inches in 2 days.
Area's that haven't flooded in 50 years are completely destroyed. Rivers are rising & overflowing the banks. Complete devastation. It's surreal.
Dean & I are fine, our house is fine. My parents and brother & sister in law live in the heart of the devastation. They got out Saturday & were able to make it safely to my house. They were lucky. Their houses are ok which is amazing. So many people surrounding them are not ok.
We have so many friends that have lost everything.
We've done nothing but watch the local news since Friday morning & we woke up to storms & school closures. I couldn't get to work. I've spent an inordinate amount of time on Facebook. I don't ever want to hear one bad thing about Facebook again. Yesterday, when we woke up there was zero cell service if you were an AT&T customer. Major towers were down. If you had Wifi, Facebook & iMessage were the only way to communicate. So many people don't know where family members are & many found people because of FB & everyone sharing posts. Last we heard on Saturday my uncle was fine in his 2nd floor apartment but he didn't have power & only a cell phone. No power means no charging the phone. We don't know if he's still there or was rescued by boat. Boat is the only way to get to many of these people.
As I type this I'm watching helicopters fly by. There were boat rescues, helicopter rescues, hospital evacuations, people waiting to be rescued on their roof.
Schools are under water. Hospitals are being evacuated. Shelters are full while other shelters are taking in water & are having to evacuate. It's an absolute NIGHTMARE & there's no end in sight. There's a chance of more rain & a river still hasn't crested. More people are being evacuated.
The local newspeople have dubbed it "The Great Flood of 2016"
In the words of my 7 year old nephew "This ISN'T great".
Many prayers!!!!!!! So awful!
ReplyDeleteI have thought of you and prayed over and over for you, your family and everyone in this flood. The news is devastating for all of us...we are after all, The UNITED states. I wish there were something we could do. I agree, FB does have its qualities.
ReplyDeleteI have heard you guys are predicted for more rain until Wednesday. Please hang in there, Traci, and keep us updated if you can. I'm so happy to hear you and Dean didn't suffer damage and your home is a haven for others.
Love ya. Prayers from Chicago.
Jane x