That's Just in Movies

Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.(Red narrating)

Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption.

I realize he meant metaphorically clean, a new beginning and all, but after donning rubber boots too many times in the last week, I have to say that nothing comes out clean once through a river of shit. 

Rubber boots, gloves, and a mask are a must when dealing with floodwater.

The historic flooding of the Susquehanna River and surrounding creeks last week led to over 20 waste water treatment plants shutting down throughout NY and PA.  Those plants pumped raw sewage into the river during the worst of the flooding.  Combine that with all the chemicals from flooded homes, cars, and businesses, and you have some toxic, nasty, sludge swirling in and around people's homes.

Twin Orchards subdivision on Monday, a day after the river was supposedly back in it's banks.  The rain ended Thursday morning.

Toxic poop water claiming photo albums and teddy bears,

clothing and furniture,

and entire homes.

This home was one of the many condemned for structural damage.



Some homes were flooded, not just in the basement and first floors, but into their second floors, too.

That plant isn't a silver variety, it's caked with silt.

 Most schools were back in session yesterday, with some more back in session today.  Many families are not yet back in their homes, and some who are back home will not have power for days.  It's heartwarming to see the way the community has pulled together.  The Vestal Teachers Association is running a distribution center for those in need stocked with donated cleaning supplies, toiletries, bedding, and clothing.

Before school was back in session you could find roaming groups of teens, looking to help drag things out to the curb.  SB's soccer league is collecting equipment and clothing for the players affected by the flooding, and WD's wrestling team is pulling together to help a teammate who's family lost everything.  I've been helping out everywhere I can, and it's been exhausting both physically and emotionally, but at the end of the night, I still get to come home to my warm bed in my dry home.  Not everyone is so lucky.  If you'd like to help, please visit the Southern Tier chapter of the American Red Cross and click the donate button.

Thanks for popping in and keeping this area in your thoughts and prayers.  I promise to be back to crafting and recipe posts soon.

We Made It Through, But...

The rain ended early this morning, and we made it through the night with a dry basement.  The trenches and new drains that CG had put in held up to the onslaught of water.  The only blip we had here was that a skunk had taken refuge in our garage.  Don't ask me how it got in.  Unfortunately not everyone here was as lucky as we were.  Our friend's parents' home early this morning had 4 feet of water in the basement and the water was still rising.  That would be floating drywall that they had been planning on using to finish off the basement.

This is the bridge around the corner from their home this morning.  For those who don't live near water, the rivers and creeks will continue to rise for up to a day beyond when it stops raining. 

All that water that came down on the hills is still running down to the creeks and rivers, swelling them even further.  That's why even though it hadn't rained all day, the river wouldn't crest until tonight.  All the driveways on my street looked like this all day long - a river of water coming down off the hill.

You can see all the cars submerged in the Walmart plaza.

There are hundreds of homes between this plaza and the river.  Homes that are all seeing at least some flooding.

I spent part of my day driving around, trying to check on friends in lower lying areas to help out any way that I could. The task was made more difficult, because so many of the roadways had been closed.  The parkway that connects Vestal(my town) to Owego(the next town over.)

Owego was particularly hard hit, seeing over 10" of rain.  The Owego Elementary School will take weeks to recover.

An aerial view of Owego.

  My cousin's home was in an island type section of Johnson City.  Her home stayed dry, but there was flooding to the south, west, north, and east of her.

Thanks for popping in and checking on our wet, wet area.  Please keep this area in your thoughts and prayers tonight.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I posted 1st day of school pics earlier today in the rain, and the rain just kept coming.  By midday schools were closing and sending kids home.  It was a very short 1st day for some kids, and a very long one for others.  There were a few washed out roads, so some bus routes couldn't go out and parents of the kids on those routes had to come to the schools to pick their kids up.  This was my road at midday.(Sorry for the poor driving/camera phone pic.)

 Our backyard waterfall is a raging torrent of water.

Broome County(the county we live in) just issued an immediate evacuation order for all areas that were flooded in 2006.  They're predicting that the river will rise above 2006 levels.  This was the Walmart plaza parking lot in 2006.  The water was at the tops of the cart return rails.

This "lake" is Ty Cobb Stadium in 2006.

This was our basement in 2006.

We don't live anywhere near the river, in fact we live far up a large hill, but the water rushing down the hill overwhelmed our french drains,and topped our foundation.  It was literally raining from the ceiling tiles in our basement.  We've dug new drainage ditches, laid new pipe & gravel, and so far it's holding.  We don't expect water this time around, but I know that those who live in lower areas will almost certainly be flooded again.  Fingers crossed the river level predictions are wrong.

Thanks for popping in and commiserating with me.