Facing a Flood

It has been raining in the Binghamton area all week. We faced a flood back in 2006, and I was not expecting to face another this week. Schools let students out around noon yesterday, and my work let us go home around 1:30. I took a different route home due to roads being closed and saw some places underwater already.

My family and I had a normal night around the house, just bailing water out of the window well every few hours. We got a phone call during dinner saying if you were evacuated in 2006, you should prepare to leave. We did evacuate in 2006, but nothing happened to the house, so we decided to stay. A fireman came to the door around 8:00 that evening telling us to evacuate. We signed papers saying we had chosen to stay. After watching the news, Mom and I decided we wanted to head out to a friends' house for the night. We packed up around 10:30 when firetrucks came around with a loud speaker declaring a mandatory evacuation! Dad decided he would come too.

In 2006 we took everything up from the basement to prevent damage, but we did not bother this time, thinking it was a waste during the last flood as nothing happened to our house. We simply left the house with a few clothes, important papers, and the vehicles.

Mom and I headed out, but the road was closed to our friends' house. We called Dad, and he decided to just turn back and wait it out at home. Mom and I tried calling another friend, but it was around 11:30, and she did not answer. We headed to Binghamton University where the Red Cross had a shelter set up. We brought our stuff inside, but they didn't even have cots to sleep on yet. Thankfully, our friend called us back and offered that we could stay at their place. Mom and I headed there for the night, while Dad slept at home.

Mom's phone rang at 5am. It was Dad. The power had gone out and the neighbor's wall had caved in at the foundation. Our road was starting to flood with water coming up the driveway. He was stuck! Another phone call, and he decided to try and get out. He arrived at our friends' house around 6am. We were all safe and together!

We slept a little longer and contacted family and friends with what has been happening. We drove around a bit this morning to check out the river and flooded roads. We tried to go to or at least see our house, but the highway and side roads were all closed. We received word that water is now coming over the flood wall by our house. The rain has stopped, but the rivers are still rising! The water level is expected to be 20 feet higher than flood stage by 8pm tonight!

We do not know what we will come home to or when we will even be able to come home. It was a long recovery for the area back in 2006, but our house was not directly affected. We are expecting our basement to be full, so that will take some work to clean up. We are at peace knowing that our family is safe and our stuff is only temporary anyways. I'll post more updates as we find out more, but pray for the Binghamton area as you think of it!