Evacuation Day

Yesterday was evacuation day.

It started off as a fairly normal Saturday morning for us. We actually slept in till 8-ish. The kids were in a good mood and it was pretty quiet outside except for the quiet grumble of our neighbor's Bobcat tractor. That should have been our first clue.

Grammy called at about 9 and suggested we move the rest of our stuff to She-She's and get the kids settled. They were going to go to Lowe's to buy some stuff for the chickens and pigeons and would catch up with us later. About 9:15, she came over to give us something when Jessie (the neighbor with the Bobcat) called to her from his yard.

"Did you know the water's come up? It's almost over the road." He said. "We probably only have a few hours."

Quickly we cleaned up the kitchen, got dress and began the final packing and chores.

Some time around 11:30, as we were loading the cars, we noticed that the water had filled in the yard across the street and had covered that neighbor's driveway. About forty minutes later, the Sherrif showed up and told us we had to leave.

"There isn't a road down here that doesn't have water on it," he told us.

We told him we were just about done and would be leaving soon. A few more tears and then we got back to work. After loading the last of our belongings, we sealed and sandbagged the one remaining door into our homes then joined hands and prayed. It's a good thing God understands all languages because the tears made us sound pretty funny.

We drove out our driveway in a caravan not too unlike the one we formed five years ago when we moved to Bismarck. Pops and Adam in the lead, pulling the trailer with the chickens, pigeons and plants inside. Grammy follwed behind him in the Navigator. Sleeping Gracey and I followed in our Trailblazer and Scott brought up the rear in his work van.

As we passed other evacuees, we cried. Some stopped Scott to ask about the best route out. He told them he didn't know, he just didn't know. But nothing prepared us for what was ahead, just about a mile from our driveway: two feet of rushing water pouring over the road.

Pops zoomed through fine with Grammy right on his tail. But when I got to the water, I froze. We are taught to never, ever drive on a flooded road yet having watched my parents do it with success, she didn't know what to do. The water was deep, fast and strong. And all I could think was "My car is smaller than theirs." But Scott, forever my Prince Charming, pulled up alongside me and gave me isntructions.

"You can do this, babe. Put it in 4-wheel drive, and just go. Whatever you do, don't slow down and don't stop, just go. I'll be right her next to you." I nodded, barely able to breathe much less speak, rolled up my window and did as he told me.

As we emerged from the water, I pulled out ahead of him and rolled down my window again. It was so stifling hot in my car and I needed fresh air just to breathe. By this time, I was wailing like mourners at a funeral. I will tell you right now: that was the hardest thing I've ever done. It went against every instinct. I was so scared. So angry. So sad. So devastated.

We drove in our slow-moving caravan all the way to She-She's house, each of us crying and somehow not believing what was happening.

We spent the rest of the day unpacking and moving into She-She's house. Coincidentally, She-She is in California right now for a friend's bachelorette week-end.

Some time around 9pm, we decided to go down to our neighborhood and see how high the water had risen. Imagine our horror when we looked past the road closed sign and saw hoards of people on ATVs driving through the floodwaters, people sight-seeing and walking on our neighbor's flooded properties and even a young boy and his dad bow-fishing in the flooded backyard of a neighbor. We called the Sherrif but his response was insulting. He said he saw nothing wrong with what the people were doing (including the trespassing bow-fisherman) and that he thought we were bitter about being evacuated. Needless to say, we have filed a complaint.

Two of our neighbors did make it down to their homes last night despite the high waters on the road. They both told us that the water was contained to our culvert and had not yet gone up our driveway or into our yards yet. Praise God! We realize the waters will likely rise, but every day is one more day.

Currently the dam release is running at 115,000 cubic feet per second. Tomorrow they will increase to 120,000 cfs. Tuesday it goes to 130,000. Friday it will be 135,000 cfs and some time next week it goes to 150,000 cfs. The release will remain at 150,000 cfs into July. No one knows how long it will take the floodwaters to recede. We've heard it could be 7 weeks or it could be 12 weeks.

The good news is that the high-velocity water continues to deepen the river channel which means the water levels are not as high as the experts expected them to be. Of course, the flipside of that is that the Corps could decide to increase the flows faster since the river can contain more water. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

As for now, we are safe and dry at She-She's. The kids are sharing a hide-a-bed in their basement bedroom. Scott and I are in the guestroom. Grammy and Pops are in their motorhome in the driveway. It's cozy but it works.

Please keep praying. We're not out of the woods yet.