Flood Damage

I did not have the grandchildren last weekend because I went to Austell, GA with a group from NewSpring so I had to be in Anderson by 6:30 AM on Saturday. Now that was some serious kind of tired by the end of the day.

Our group of about 100 went to the area SW of Atlanta where the flooding was about a month ago. The group I was with went to an older neighborhood with houses that had already been gutted but all the trash had to be moved from the yard to the street so the city would pick it up. The trash included furniture, drywall, insulation, clothes, lumber - pretty much everything in the house. We did this at 2 houses then raked the yards to get up all the small debris.

The devastation was unbelievable. The water line was clearly visible about 2 feet up on the roof line of these single story houses. One house we saw and that will be demolished was sitting at a 45 degree angle to the foundation.

After lunch we moved to a relatively new subdivision where the rest of our team had been working in the morning. These 2 story patio homes had been flooded to the 2nd story. Many of these homes had already had the "big" trash hauled away but the yards were still littered with glass, drywall scraps, pens, utensils and that kind of thing. So we spent the rest of the afternoon getting up as much of the leftover stuff that was buried in the mud of their yards. We even shoveled and bagged the mud along the curbs.

Because we had a large group of men, they were able to move a redwood deck that was still in tact but was sitting in the front yard of a house 5 houses away from where it supposed to be. About 35 or so guys picked it up and walked it to the back yard of the house where it belonged.

We didn't see many homeowner because they can not live in their houses but those we did see were grateful to have the help. We also ran into a group from Samaritan's Purse that was helping to do a lot of clean up. They too were really glad for the the extra help.

The two men I spoke to that were homeowners were still in shock I think. The floods were so sudden and the loss so devasting that they just can't quite come to grips with it. It's been a month and they are still "homeless". Their dreams and plans are shattered right now along with their homes. Even though the waters have receeded the pain is still there.