THE FLOOD

So...July was coming to a close, and Abby had Adventure Camp the week of the 25th thru the 29th. The rain had been CRAZY that week, and when I went to pick Abby up on Tuesday, there were several areas of standing water on the roads and on post. It was a little scary because the water was already pooling and then it was pouring. And, when I say pouring, I don't even know how to describe it. I mean, we get what we call 'cloud bursts' back home, but those last a few minutes...it was raining like that for about an hour and then it continued to rain heavily. It. Was. Crazy.
On Wednesday, I saw on facebook that Division put out we were expected to get more heavy rains and to be cautious. I decided to pick Abby up early that day, and I am SO GLAD that I did. It was so weird because I just felt such a strong urge to pick her up early that day. Funny, huh?
I don't remember the time table, but I do know that Dan was due to come home that night from the field and we'd been on the phone several times that day. He was keeping me updated on when he'd be home. However, in the early evening, the sirens started going off. I'd told him I didn't feel comfortable with him driving and to maybe take a taxi home. It was raining like crazy and I was reading posts on facebook about how bad the flooding was getting. A friend called me to tell me that Dan should probably just stay on post because the river had jumped the banks-she lived closer to the river. It was not pretty.
I was really worried about the Acadia in the basement, but everything down there was fine. I checked a few times and even saw a security guard sweeping water into the drains at the entrance. Other than that...there was no water in the basement! WOO HOO, Humanville!
The damage was terrible. I think several of you saw the pictures that I shared on facebook. I obviously don't have any of my own to show. Down by post, all the little stores that cater to the Americans were completely flooded. There were numerous mudslides. In some places, it looks like the mountain just melted. So, there was mud. Everywhere.
We were stuck in our apartment from that Wednesday until the next Monday just because the flooding was so bad for a few days, then there was mud, and then the roads were blocked because of the cleanup....etc, etc. By Monday, I was ready to drive to China, but I just drove to Emart in Yangju. Emart is similar to LotteMart, but a little different. Probably the way a Walmart and Kmart look to a Korean in the States (I can't even type Target because NOTHING can compare to Target...boo hoo!). I had never driven anywhere besides post, so this was pretty significant. I was worried, once again, about finding a place to park, but after driving around and ticking a few parking attendants off, I found a spot for my HUGE American car!ha
If you're on facebook...go to 1st Heavy Brigade and look at the pictures.
Our soldiers were heavily involved in the clean up and many of the spouses helped as well. I was so proud of everyone...some of those pictures had me in tears. The soldiers marching down there, I'm sure, was a sight to see!
There's still a lot of clean up on post to be done, and a road is still blocked off because of a mud slide.
Here is the link to 1st Heavy on Facebook(scroll all the way down to July 28th on their wall...they also have pictures of the clean-up in the 'ville):
https://www.facebook.com/#!/IRONBDE?sk=wall