Recovery and Rebuilding...

Hey readers.  I've been meaning to post an update here for a few days now...

May 3, 2010 - So the day after we went through this nightmare, we were allowed to go back into our home early evening. The regular front road was inaccessible so we had to take a 25 minute round about way to reach.

I don't think anything really could have prepared me for what I was about to witness. As we drove through different neighbourhoods, people were starting to rip out carpet, flooring and get all their flood soaked belongings out to the front yard. This is the kind of stuff I have seen on TV in the news in passing... and here it was happening in front of me. In a way this drive up to our home prepped us somewhat on what to expect when we opened our door.

Entering the house for the first time in 26 hours- Stuff everywhere. Water had receded for the most part but everything was soaking wet. And I mean soaking. Water in kitchen drawers, cutlery floating, Books, magazines on the floor, kitchen fridge tilted leaning 45 degrees against a cabinet, kitchen island toppled...  and a lot more. The water line was near 4 feet in the living room and the rest of the main level. Thankfully the water didn't climb any more than the 5 steps it was at the previous day.  We immediately started ripping out the carpet and getting all our things out in the front and back yard to toss. In my mind I wasn't prepared to salvage much of anything. Our dining room table seemed to be intact but the chairs were soaked. Could be repaired. WE got to work quickly. The following day was going to be a long one. Made calls to various friends to come help take everything apart the following day.

May 4, 2010- Day of Destruction

After a pit stop at Home Depot for breakdown essentials like bleach, crowbar, exacto knife and other tools we went to the house and started ripping out drywall and getting appliances out. This was a long day. 12 hours. With the help of many friends and one volunteer we ripped drywall, tore soaking wet insulation, ripped carpet, vinyl, tore hardwood, tossed all 5 appliances outside. The pile outside started growing. It felt surreal. I think the reality of all this is sinking in only now as I write this many days later.
The two cars were manually pushed out of the garage onto the street.  I can't say how many people stopped by and took pictures of DH's beamer :-(. Overall it was upsetting but there was no time to sit and cry because so much work needed to be done. We were all running on adrenaline, with only one break for lunch. Meanwhile the volunteer effort in our community was underway with tons of people helping passing food, water, gatorade, offering manual labour help etc etc. It was overwhelming.

I remember taking one break to go look at the river that had caused so much destruction and felt anger build up. How many times have I run up and down this path in training, taken walks when the weather was nice.  Was this that same river 24 hours before was enveloping our house?

Today- May12, 2010 - Everything is gutted down to the frame. Dump still exists on our front lawn but Metro Works is working their way to our area. Drywall is drying out good in preparation for reconstruction. We are talking to a few different contractors to help with the rebuild. We have car shopping on the agenda. Still have no idea what kind of assistance FEMA is going to provide.

Lots of questions  with answers coming hopefully over the next little while.....