flood

molly was ecstatic today when we got home early.  we got home early because my principal dismissed us.  my principal dismissed us because she got news the ping river flooded.  she told us about the flooding because the house we're subletting is in the flood plain.  so i left my class and we went to discover what was going on in our neighbourhood.  we've gotten lots of news about all the flooding in america these past months.  i've felt terrible for everyone affected.  we knew it was a possibility here as the ping has been dangerously close to flooding ever since we've arrived...but has never quite done so.  this is where the water has hovered:

 until today....

there was definitely a palpable feeling of panic in the air.  traffic was very heavy today during a time that is usually slow:

once ray and i arrived home we ran around like crazy trying to elevate everything we could:

the river reached the landlord's compound first:

and then made it's way through the neighbourhood...until it eventually flowed into our yard:

after we had done everything we possibly could, we were advised by a friend to cut the electricity and spend the night at his house.  we had already taken the cars to higher ground so we left by foot.  this is us leaving like refugees:

we have now brought molly the dog and the cars to our friends' house, far from the river.  we'll go back to check on the house tomorrow.  the water levels are continuing to rise--rapidly--so we might do quite a bit of wading.  this is what downtown looked like earlier today (and it's risen lots since then):

the latest weather reports say to expect steady rain until 4 october.  we're hoping that's not true, but are thankful to have a place to stay if the worst happens!  i've enjoyed the adventure of it all, but feel terrible that it's someone else's house in danger!  we'll continue to do all we can....and hopefully end up with some great stories!