Saturday, December 13

into the puddle

about 8 years ago a friend named david made a movie about laie called "into the bubble". if i were to make a movie about the last few days in laie it would be called "into the puddle."
it's still raining. not hard, ok, it just started raining hard again. but it's nothing compared to thursday when i woke up early to the sound of pouring rain and a huge pump pumping water out of the puddle we call the driveway. luke started to leave for work at 6 but came back inside and said that there is water running into the garage (his parent's garage, the one that houses a lot of our stuff) and we got to work. we pretty much worked all the rest of the day while it kept pouring rain to keep his parents house from floating away. at it's worst, the garage had water up to the middle of my shin, there was water coming in the front and back doors to the house (this is luke's parents house i am talking about, we live next door but our place was alright because we have a huge concrete barrier around our door.), their back room had at least 4 inches of water, there was bubbles coming up from the foundation of the house and all corners of the downstairs had about an inch of water. we climbed in and out the window in the kitchen because the front door was sand bagged shut.
we did a lot of sand bagging, scrambling to try to seal off doors, picking things up and moving them to higher ground or putting them up on bricks.
the last big flood here was in the early 90's and at that time there was a foot of water in the downstairs, so we were lucky it wasn't too bad for us. and nothing really got ruined, so again we were lucky. there were a lot of people who were not so lucky. it has been a trippy experiencee- sorta fun, sorta crazy, sorta intense, really sad for some, and fun for others.
betsy went out and took some pictures in the middle of the day, it is crazy how much water there was and how much damage it it did. like i said, we didn't get it too bad, but there is so much clean up to be done it is crazy. in a way it has been good though because it has forced us to get out all our things and go threw them and start to pack and get really organized.
anyways, here are some pictures:
this is moana street, totally flooded.  many houses had 4 feet of water and most people there lost everything.
kulanui street (the one that least to byu-h)
this house was a mess before the flood, i can only imagine what it looks like now.  maybe they will want to sell their land to us for cheap?
surf's up.  if you want some crazy disease.  today there were hazardous water posters all over.
the field in front of byu-h
tva sand bag crew.  go team work!
i wish this was me.
our sand bag crew.  this was the second run, a tractor just dumped a load of sand into our truck bed and luke brought it home so we could all make sand bags.
at one point, this car and bike were floating on the water, it was pretty funny.
for some more cool pics check out angie's blog

21 comments:

Autumn said...

WOW! THAT IS CRAZY!
GLAD YOU GUYS ARE ALL GOOD, SAD THAT OTHERS WEREN'T SO LUCKY!
HOPEFULLY IT WON'T LAST LONG!
HOW BIG IS THE SURF?

Melissa said...

I can't believe how flooded moana street was! How did that happen so fast? i still can't believe it.
and Betsey's pictures are my favorite so far.
Sucks that their house got flooded, but I'm glad nothing got ruined.

Erika said...

I'm happy you guys survived the flood and pretty much saved everything. I didn't even know there was flooding going on over there...what's up with the news?!?

lauren said...

CRAZY!!! you told me it was flooding there when i talked to you yesterday but i didnt realize the extent of it until now! looks fun though! im sure not for all those whose stuff was damaged though.... autumn told me about the pics at church today, so i had to check them out as soon as i got home. NUTS. its 55 here and that is as crazy as it gets in little huntington beach. 13 more days.... YEAH!

Smiths said...

I'm glad to see pictures and also glad you guys didn't get effected by it too much. I remember when it flooded in the 90's. I was living on the moana street you took a picture of. I remember loving it because when they took out the carpet I got to roller skate around my whole house. Crazy-and it's still raining?

queenie said...

When we lived at TVA we were out sandbagging A Building at 2 am. scary, but man good times. Hope it subsides soon.

Stephanie said...

i cant believe how flooded everythign gets! it seems like there is something that can be done by hri or woever to prevent some of this... i just dont know what :)

and i am sorry about the garage drama! it must have been pretty stressful and it's kind of funny because i thought of your garage when i heard about flooding in laie- like oh no- the moffats! it just popped into my mind- so i am glad to hear the update!

Aubrey Jane said...

Thanks for the pictures! We heard from Aurie that it had flooded, but seeing the pictures has helped us understand exactly what happened. Looks crazy! That is a lot of water!
We hope and pray it's all over with soon.

liko said...

betsy got pictures when it was at it's highest, from the looks of it. my aunt lives on naniloa lp., which leads onto kulanui, right across from PCC. they got about 2 ft. of water in their house. their Christmas tree was floating. i feel really bad about those who got flooded. kept you guys busy, huh? we were stuck at home. the road was closed in hauula and waiahole. reminds me of the 40 days of rain in '06, but this time it was more rain in such a short time.

Jennelle said...

I can't believe how bad it flooded. I have seen it flooded a few time but not that bad.

Hey, I think Pomona is like 45 minutes from Redlands. We are thinking about moving to Chino Hills instead of being right in Pomona, I guess we'll see. We wont be there until sometime in July. We will have to hang out and have some craft nights. I was kinda sad we didn't really get to do anything before we left Hawaii.

Kelli Radmall said...

That is CRAZY! I can't believe it. Seriously incredible pictures. I am so sad for anyone whose house flooded. I'm glad you guys are all ok.

leslie said...

i can only believe this is retroactive inspiration for they might be giants 1990 hit album "flood." i'm sure it was a sad day for some but i can't help wishing i was there!

Becky said...

sounds like you maintained a pretty positive attitude about it despite the condition you were in. i have never seen so much rain.

Da Denninghoff's said...

That's crazy! Never saw Laie like that before. Had no idea it was that bad.

Bowdens said...

I can't believe that is happening right now!! I'm so glad that Luke saw it so early and you could save your house. Seeing TVA is bringing back so many memories. I can't believe we've been gone for 5years. Our little 1st floor apt. would have been flooded!
You are so positive though! We're thinking about you guys and we're glad you're ok!

heidi said...

wowza! i can't help but want to ride down my street in a kayak though...
just a good time to make your packing that much more fun! hang in there and don't float too far away. good luck getting everything done before you go. wish the girls could come play while you do your thang.

Jessica Brown said...

Holy cow! That's a lot of rain! Did most of your stuff stay dry? I'm glad you were able to keep the Moffat's home afloat, or wait, from floating. I have some good memories in that home!

Molly Malia said...

i'm home sick! the flood in 1991 or was it 92? can't remember... i remember all the toads trying for higher ground, slugs making their way up the wall and walking around laie with garbage bags on. i loved it! and then when it was all over finding our monopoly peices over in the church parking lot and living with cement floors. everything smelt like pinesol and still to this day when i smell it it takes me back!

me dork...

liko said...

and can you believe it's been 8 friggin' years since dave made that movie!?

Katie said...

Oh my gosh! That is crazy! People were in cayaks! Glad you all are OK...

Katie said...

Oh my gosh! That is crazy! People were in cayaks! Glad you all are OK...