So, in case y'all haven't heard or noticed, it rained a little this spring. I mean, it rains a lot in Houston normally, but one night in April, we got 14 inches in about 5 hours. It was....fun. Let's have a little chat about that night, shall we?
Around 12:30, we woke up to the sound of hail on our skylight. Our main concern was that it was going to shatter because that crap was LOUD. Luckily, the skylight held on and the hail dissipated. We then turned our attention to the back yard, where we discovered this little gift...
So, being the calm and rational person I am, I dealt with it the only way I know how. By freaking out. I literally just stood there shaking my head and saying "oh crap, oh crap" over and over. Luckily, Zack can handle his emotions a little better and grabbed a bunch of towels and started trying to clean up. The boys were already in our room, cause, you know, thunder...so I checked on them and made sure they weren't floating in a puddle yet. Finally, around 1:30, the rain tapered off and the water receded. We figured we were home free and headed to bed. We are such stupid dummies. It rained ALL NIGHT LONG. How does one even go to sleep when their house is flooding?
Around 6:15, Jonathan woke up and walked into the kitchen. All I could hear from my room was, "Oh my goodness. I DID NOT DO THIS!" Interestingly enough, I didn't come running. I already knew what I would find when I walked out there and I knew it would suck. Sure enough, we had nearly an inch of water throughout 70% of the house. Again, I freaked out. I just stood there laughing this ridiculously creepy laugh. Cause, I mean, what else could I do? You cant clean that up with a couple of beach towels. All in all, we had water in the master bedroom, closets, and bathroom, the living room, breakfast room, Jonathan's room and closet, the guest room and closet and all along the large bar in the kitchen.
Long story short, it just kept raining. Every road around us was flooded, so we couldn't get any teams out to help. The water remediation crew couldn't come out for 2 days, and the carpet was already starting to smell everything up, so Zack and I had to tear it all out ourselves. Let me tell you, that was an adventure. Honestly, I think we both kind of lost it at that point. Zack turned on the Beach Boys, and just went at it with a heavy duty box cutter. Seriously....the Beach Boys? How does a grown man come to the conclusion that the best music to listen to while you demolish your house is the Beach Boys? To each his own, I suppose. We ended up spending the entire week at my in-laws because our house wasn't safe and you know, it was full of flood water. Ultimately, we got the carpet and flooring removed, the crews finally made it to our house and tore out a bunch of walls and baseboards and then left us with 30 fans/machines running day and night to dry everything out.
The best news of this story is that we have flood insurance. Now, in case you didn't know, no matter who carries your flood insurance, it's backed by FEMA. And let me tell y'all....FEMA is THE WORST. We are nearly 3 months out and haven't received our payout. We have no floors, partially completed walls with drywall but no paint (which means everything in our entire house is coated in fine white dust,) all our stuff is packed into any room that didn't have damage, everything is dirty and everything is dusty. I'm not even going to act like it doesn't bother me. It is terrible. And you know what, chances are high that I will continue to whine until it is fixed. We talked to our adjuster yesterday and he said everything is submitted for our claim, but it could still be 2 months before we get the final pay out. 2 MONTHS. That would make 5 months of living in disarray. I can't even deal.
Now, let me end this by saying I know it could have been so much worse and I pray daily for the families who had more damage or lost everything. God surely did protect us and our home. But you know what? That doesn't make me any less ticked off that this happened. And I still hate FEMA. So, if you are wondering why I haven't invited you over for a play date or dinner....it's cause I don't have floors, or access to toys, or a table to feed more than 4 people...One day you can come back, friend.
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