And then... we didn't know what?

People started coming back the day of our hotel stay. We started to wonder if we were just being ridiculous. 

Then GrandmaK called MommyM to tell her that she thought our house as under 9 feet of water. She saw the gas station and a few buildings that were next to us completely underwater. Then MommyM called UncleT who said he didn't know but thought grandmaK is nuts. We went to a community meeting and were basically told, "Iuhno" and "we can't give specific addresses right now, but call and we'll tell you then" and "if you feel like you'd be safe, then I can't tell you to go home until the evac is officially lifted but we have bigger, more emergent, things to worry about than chasing you out." We were comforted by realizing that the location of the meeting was less than a mile from our place and the roads were open. (This is a good sign, open roads mean dry roads and we live really close to one of the major roads.) We weighed driving by our place that night. realized that just because roads are "open" doesn't mean they are "good", and besides, we would be able to assess the situation better in the light of day.

The evac was lifted the second evening. the room was already paid for and the girls were having SO. MUCH. FUN.

We stayed that night, holding our breath a little, letting the kids play, letting the kids forget, letting them meet other kids who knew their house was not just flooded, but destroyed. Washed away. Gone. Our girls played with them like nothing was going on. They showed this difficult thing that all people seem to find in  moments of shared fear and loss, a sort of compassion, kindness that they don't usually tolerate. It was like trying to comfort these other kids was them comforting themselves. And they needed a lot of comforting and a lot of distracting.

UncleT told us that GrandmaK was looking at a different area. A different gas station. We were afraid to hope. We were out of time at the hotel...

Then, with baited breath and tight tummies, we went home.

And...

There was no water.

Our complex does have flooded apartments. Multiple buildings got water. The building next to us did. We're lucky. We're also at a little higher elevation, not much, but just enough to keep us dry. I think our van, parked in front of our house would have wet wheels.

The water, which had gone DOWN, was well...

This is the driveway where we drop the kids off for the bus. To the right is a sidewalk along a field people take their dogs to poo, with a small "pond" where mosquitoes breed, scum builds and a gross drain that's supposed to lead excess rain/snow melt into the river but has a dip the holds some of that water. To the left is the driveway up to our place.

Lucky of us, it's literally UP to our place. This spot was completely underwater.