Tropical Storm Fay came at us early this week. For most people is was an excuse to party. They got a couple days off work and didn’t really have to do much to prepare because it wasn’t predicted to be very significant in our area. For others, however, it was a nightmare. Fay dumped about a foot and a half of rain on the area, and while the drainage system handled the water fairly well, there are always spots that get hit hard. Many people said Fay produced worse flooding than four years ago when the area got hit with back-to-back hurricanes.
All-in-all the people I ran into seemed pretty upbeat despite the rough situation. There were a lot of people playing in the flood waters, and a family who got flooded out of their house kept a positive attitude even while they hauled out furniture and tore up their flooring with the help of their friends. But that attitude was also kept out of necessity. I asked the father what his immediate concerns are and he said “keeping the family upbeat.” They had a good group of friends who will help them out and give them a place to stay and food to eat, but what was most important to him was that his young daughters not be devastated by the sight of their destroyed house. Then he thanked me for asking the question. That was the first time that has ever happened to me.
The most shocking photo I think I’ve seen in a while was shot by co-worker Matthew Ratajczak. While driving around looking for photos he found a cemetery where one of the caskets had become dislodged and exposed in a pool of water. It had been buried only weeks earlier. The two people in the photograph are relatives of the deceased and were rightly upset. It was weird to see because just earlier that day I drove past a cemetery that had taken on some water and wondered if something like this could ever happen. My question was answered not an hour later.
