We are pretty far away from where the actual hurricane made landfall. However, hurricanes are curious creatures. They tear up the coast line and then they make dozens of laps around the inland areas dumping gallons of rain. Like a billion gallons.
We live in a suburb of Houston on the Northwest side of town. We live in a sort of high spot in our county and in the 20 years we have lived here we have never flooded. But in our 20 years here, there has never been a storm quite like this.
Red is bad. Yellow sucks a lot, too! We have been pretty much red or yellow for 3 days :(
We are quite safe in our spot. We have a bayou that runs directly behind our back fence, but it drains well and fairly fast. Our streets are draining well. Our yard is completely saturated. In our subdivision we have had about 16-20 inches of rain in 2 days. Another 15-25 inches are expected. The rain could continue for 5-10 more days.
We have not lost power or really been inconvenienced. Our Dish TV has been a little spotty, but I haven't lost internet at all.
We have been in several tornado warnings and a couple of my kids have been pretty freaked out about this. They have spent a lot of time in my closet with their blankets and tablets.
Did you say tornado???
You have probably seen the aerial photos of Houston. Huge portions of the city are completely underwater. Although our neighborhood is safe we can't really go any where or do anything. The grocery stores are closed or closing early. Most area schools have been called off for the remainder of this week. We were supposed to have our first day of students tomorrow, but we will be delaying school for one week.
After how many hours does TV literally start to cause brain damage???
My kids are a little stir crazy, but hanging in there pretty well! We've had entirely too much "Loud House" and "Sponge Bob" , but we've also played in the rain and even took a swim. All this closeness has had one slightly unpleasant side effect. We seem to have a small stomach bug spreading through our ranks. Luckily, toilet paper was one of the things Brian did remember to stock up on last week!!
It's raining anyway, we might as well get wet!
We were supposed to have a big camping trip over Labor Day holiday weekend to a beach campground. We're not sure that beach is even still there. Our camping trip has been cancelled. It's a tiny inconvenience in the great scheme of things, but camping is so important to my mental health and it's got me feeling a bit blue.
It is sad to watch the news. So many people have lost literally everything they have. There are homes that are completely submerged and families that had to be rescued from roof tops and attics. There are many many families who don't have flood insurance because they live in places that have NEVER flooded. This is a disaster that no one could have really prepared for or ever expected. If you're the praying type, send up a few extra for those families with small kiddos and no home to sleep in tonight.
Thanks so much to all of you from all over the county who have reached out and checked up on us! I've even had some of my More Love Mama fabric shop customers from around the states checking on me! It's like a warm hug on a rainy day!
Tip for next hurricane: stock up on Legos!