I've been with the US Coast Guard just 8 months or so now and recently got qualified as boat crewman. Here I am about to take my first week of leave and well... It's the morning of May 1st, my leave just started. I turn on my x-box and start playing Mass Effect (I just got it). I had heard the tornado sirens going off all morning... but I knew we would be having bad weather that weekend. A lot of rain, thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes. I also learned we had a flash flood warning going on. I did not realize that the base had flooded 23 years ago. I also didn't know about the levy protecting the east side of the base, not that some flooding had already happened in the night, though it was further down the road and the waters had started to recede.

Its looking like it could continue to rain and I know my in-laws have also hit the road to come and visit me. So I am torn between getting ready to evacuate if they tell us to if any flooding happens (which I doubted at the time) and cleaning my house for my in-laws visit. So I try to do both. 10 am and the road outside is suddenly a river. The levy had failed, rather it was never built to hold off 12 inches of rain in 3 hours. It was built to the 100 year flood mark.... this was the worse flooding the area had prolly ever seen. At this point it was unsafe to walk out (even though there was a mandatory walkout soon after) and unsafe to drive out. So we got what we could hight up, got what we would need that we could carry and watched the water rise up to our doorstep. Finally somone came, not on a boat of coarse, the boats were out there getting the people in the deeper water. We walked to an island avoiding the currant (we is me, my husband, and my four year old daughter). Then from there we went by boat to the commissary which was also and island now. Then a bus drove us through 1 foot water to the gym.

Its been a week and we are still in a hotel. Our house got only 1 inch of water, we lucked out because our neighbors got 3 feet of water because a sewage water main broke in their house. Our car got water damage but it still runs. The interior will still need to be redone, we still need to get an estimate on it. I have been filling out inventory sheets all week on the stuff that got damaged and the stuff we are keeping. I got to salvage most of my stuff, mostly lost furniture, still waiting on the status of all my clothes and linens (they are being professionally cleaned, free for everyone who lived on base). Still got a ways to go.

So if you are wondering where I have been. This is my 'soul trouble' and I still have an in game wedding to plan... heh.

Glad everything is okay, and there was only minimal damage!

I know, I was freaking out thinking we had gotten several feet after we left. They would not let us in our home for 4 days! Some of my shipmates lost nearly everything with 4 to 5 feet of water. Some people 20 miles north got 9 feet!

Pretendy Fun Time Game wedding can wait, you take care of what you have to.

Should be back on track in a couple of days. Just a lot of loose ends to tie up. See you in game when I can!

"Back on track" means I still don't have my car, its carpet is being replaced but its not totaled... at least not yet... I am waiting on a house... It could be up to 3 weeks before they repair all the flood damage (why I still wanna live on base I will never know... beats the Memphis crime rate I guess). All my paperwork is in but no checks are in the mail for my 2 claims and blah.... just alot of waiting. I hate this hotel room.

The good news is someone cleans up after you, and someone else pays for it.