The Fearful Flood
Reality struck me the one morning when I opened my eyes. My father walked into my bedroom at 2 o’clock in the morning with fear in his yes. He yelled, “Grab anything that is important to you.” After he said that remark, I started grabbing my photo albums and my athletic medals, not knowing what was going on. I looked outside, but nothing was different. I walked out of my room and noticed everyone in the house running around in frustration. My mom was lost in thought, my dad was yelling for everyone to hurry, and my brother and sister were confused like I was. I ran downstairs to my sister’s room and realized there was water leaking through all the sides of the windows. My parents, siblings, and I loaded into all the vehicles to evacuate. We threw what we could of our belongings into the trunk and grabbed our cat and our new dog, which we just bought the day before. We were all still wondering what was going on. My sister, brother and I asked my dad what was going on. My dad was so scared, he couldn’t answer.
We drove to my aunt’s house since it was on higher ground and we knew we would be safe. The anxiety was making my body weak, as I kept sitting their wondering what the town will look like when the sun rises. My other family members were at my aunt’s house also, we were all packed in the living room scared and worried. My aunt had a camper in her driveway that all the kids went to sleep in. I couldn’t close my eyes and get rest. No one else could sleep in the house or camper either. As six o’clock in the morning came around, I wanted to go into town to see if anything changed. My dad and uncle didn’t want anyone going into town until they checked it out first. As we drove down the hill, we did not make it that far until we realized that we would have to use a canoe to get through the streets to my house. Later, my grandpa and father used a canoe to get to the house to see how bad it looked. My grandpa told my dad, “I think we saw your freezer floating down the streets.” My dad replied, “How did you know it was our freezer?” My grandpa laughed and said, “I knew it was your freezer because there was a ton of freezies in it!”
The rest of us walked the dikes by foot to go look at our houses. The water filled half our house, ruining everything we owned on the whole lower level. The National Guard came to our town and blocked off streets for the towns safety. If we had to leave to drive somewhere, we had to show that we were a town resident and could only be gone for a certain reason; shopping for things we had lost in flood, volleyball practice, if worked in a different town, or if we were working with the cleaning crew. The Salvation Army also came to support with food, clothes, and shelter. I couldn’t believe how much damage the water had done to our town. A lot of families either lived in the FEMA trailers, at a friend or families home, or moved out of Rushford. It took a couple of weeks for the water to drain but when all the water did drain, it was a sad and horrible sight to see. A chemical, Ecoli, was in the water and mud that ruined everything. The smell of the Ecoli filled the town. The Ecoli was so strong that everyone had to wear masks and gloves. Colleges and people from other towns came to help clean. Everything from the houses that people were taking out of their homes, covered the streets. The tears rolled down everyone’s faces that drove on the streets in Rushford. School was held off for a while, and volleyball was a stressful time during practices. It took a long time to get back into the regular groove. Finally, the town did become closer from the flood. We all got together to help and support one another.
After the flood hit the town of Rushford, life changed for everyone! People moved to other towns to start a new life, some re-built in the country, others fixed the damages and started from there. My family re-built the whole lower level and took one step at a time to start a new beginning.
