It rained!

   It rained...12 inches in 24 hours. It rained 12 inches in twenty-four hours not in some far and distant land a long, long time ago. It rained 12 inches in twenty-four hours in Roanoke Rapids, NC on August 25, 2012.

   Our homeowner was awakened abruptly that morning by his neighbor, "Wake up, wake up, you need to get out of your house!" When he jumped out of his bed he jumped into two feet of water, ...in his house, in his bedroom. When he stepped off his porch, he stepped into water up to his shoulders. "I never would have made it without my neighbor. I have COPD and the cold water took away any little bit of breath I had. My neighbor made sure that I made it out safe and sound."

   How could such a thing happen? Well, it rained and rained and rained and the city was so sure their new storm sewer system constructed in this neighborhood after the last flood would work , that they actually pumped water from other parts of the city into the neighborhood. And then there was the railroad track--the railroad track that became a dam keeping all the water in this neighborhood from having any other way of getting away...that's how it happened.

   His home had been constructed in 1933 by his father and uncle. He had lived in the house his whole life. Now, living on disability, somehow he would have to find a new place to live, and oh yes, he would have to find the money to pay rent.

   That's how it happened.


                                                                                                                     Rich Greenway