Having grown up in Houston, I am not unfamiliar with hurricanes and tropical storms. I can still vividly remember category 3 Alicia that hit us when I was 13. It was an amazing and awe inspiring sight. We watched the massive storm through the large plate glass window in the living room. We went outside as the eye passed over us and felt the amazing calm inside of it. Then it was back inside for the rest of the storm.
People on our side of the street lost power for days. Interestingly enough, our neighbors across the street never did but their phones went out. Our phones never stopped working.
For close to a week, there would be extension cords running across the street up and down the block so people on our side of the street could keep the refrigerators running. Our neighbors would come over to use the phone.
It was with memories like these that I went about preparing for Hurricane Irene as she made her way up the east coast. She too was supposed to be a category 3 and I remembered full well the damage one of those could do.
However, while I was nervous, I wasn't scared. We are far enough inland that we don't have to worry about storm surges. There are no rivers around to overflow their banks but we do have trees, very large trees and we have skylights.
With there being nothing I could do about the trees or the skylights, my thoughts turned to our basement. While I have no proof of it, I believe there is an underground river that runs under our home. As a result, when we get water in the basement, it comes up though the floor. And when the ground is saturated, it can get pretty bad, pretty quick.
My plan was to stay up throughout the night to monitor the water pumps we have down there. For most of the night, one pump was able to hold the water at bay. Then around 5 a.m. it started getting bad.
Water was running in so quickly that even with both pumps going they were unable to bring the water level down. They held it steady for a while then slowly the water began to creep up. I prayed the power would not go out. If we lost power, it was over. Our water heater and our boiler would both end up in the rising water.
Fortunately, the lights stayed on and the water level rose only as high as the bottom of the water heater when Irene finally left. A half of an inch more and it would have taken water.
As I watched the news coverage late Saturday morning, I could hear the water pumps still pushing out the water. I saw pictures of homes and cars washed away. I heard stories of people who were killed. I saw the water covered streets and I knew I was fortunate.
We never lost power. None of our trees fell over. Our home and more importantly, our family was safe. I was tired. I had been up all night when all I wanted was to get some sleep but what I thought about was how blessed I was to have the health and strength to stay up all night.
It was a long, rough and sometimes nerve wracking night but we are very fortunate. So many others are not.
