Last week a flash flood struck our little town. Rexburg isn’t really equipped for a lot of rain (it rarely rains here) so there aren’t many sewers for all the water to drain. When it started to rain and hail last week, I took a few videos on my phone–it seems like that’s what you do when it hails. And then it was raining hard, like I have never seen it before, for a solid 90 minutes. That’s all it took for our city to flood.

Chris and the girls were out during the whole thing and I called him because they had been gone longer than I thought they would. Chris answered and explained that all the roads were covered in water and closed and he was trying to find an alternate route home.

In the following hours, the devastation we had just faced as a city whole became apparent. Chris was out for hours emptying water out of homes and apartments. Video after video of the university campus flooded and a lot of college kids prancing around with no shoes on (the city later encouraged all those people to get a tetanus shot!) and then the photos of homes that have been destroyed.

We were fortunate, so fortunate. Only Greta’s room got wet. The wall under her window is damp and the paint is peeling off and her carpet is a little wet by the window, too. But replacing all that is nothing. We’re just moving her room up our to-do list for this year. However, our neighbors weren’t so fortunate.

The fast-flowing water busted the windows out of their lower level and quickly filled it up to the ceiling with water. They lost everything. We have pulled together as a neighborhood, and city really, to help them and others in bad shape to clean up and start the restoration process–unfortunately insurance isn’t covering this tragedy.

When two of our sponsors, Shades of Light and Wayfair, heard what had happened here, they were so kind to send product to help the family get back on their feet too. I’ve never been so proud and grateful to work with these companies.

So that’s what has been happening here. Like I said, we were so lucky the only water and damage we had was in Greta’s room. And we are anxious to re-do that for her anyway. I had actually ordered wallpaper samples last month and now we’re in full-on planning mode.

If you are interested in donating to aid of the family who lost everything, you can do so here. 

Photo Credit: First-Chris// Three flood aftermath photos-Travis Gugelman.