Seems like time to leave

Our daughter Kim is in the thick of Louisiana storms again.

Five years ago, their home in Denham Springs was flooded, with up to four feet of water in the lower floor.

They had experienced 30 inches of rain in a couple day’s time. That’s about three years of rain around here.

She and her husband, Bruce, had to strip wallboard and insulation from the lower floor and replace the floor, appliances and furniture. It was a three-month long project.

Kim and Bruce live on the river, and with that amount of rain the river overflowed its banks and the water steadily rose until it was in the house.

Luckily, they had flood insurance, and the insurance company responded almost immediately.

Now Hurricane Ida.

Denham Springs is about 50 miles north and a little east of New Orleans and some 30 miles from Baton Rouge. 

Her report on Sunday was that they expected the worst.

They have a portable generator and a lot of gas, so power might not be an ongoing problem.

We waited, a little anxious, for a late Sunday report of how badly they had been hit.

With winds well over 100 miles per hour, it is hard to imagine what this could do to a home.

A report at 7 p.m. our time was that they were in the neighbor’s garage waiting for the full force of the storm to hit.

That was the last report until mid-morning Monday.

It hit. Down trees everywhere. They were out Monday using the chainsaw, repairing the damage. Luckily their house wasn’t severely damaged.  

They live near tornado alley, but it seems like the tornados go either to the north or south of their place. We are not normally so worried about tornados as we are this time.

Why anyone would choose to live in one of these weather zones is beyond me.

For us to experience such a water debacle, we would have to have a downpour not seen since the time of Noah.

I can’t help but think of the thousands of people there in Louisiana that were not that fortunate.

The same can be said for those suffering from wildfires and floods.

Our country is about to have a large number of Afghan families settle here. We don’t have the best record in this country in welcoming new minorities.

It was rewarding to read that some of the countries where Afghans landed briefly were most kind and helpful to them.

Yet men and women of principle will rise to the occasion here. None of us have to go back too far to find our own relatives landing here in the USA.

Larger cities will have the bulk of Afghans land there.  However, more rural places will get families.

Would we welcome Afghan families?

Schools are starting with face masks mandated, plus distancing. The call on how school will be conducted will come from the Okanogan health office. While hopes for a good start is on everyone’s mind, we will have to wait and see if in-school teaching will be manageable.