Off-Grid in West Virginia

Linda

Wednesday the skies opened and the rain came. Never in our time here have we seen such racing water overflow the creek banks. People who have lived in this area for over twenty years have commented the same thing and we may have more storms today.

The heavy rains pounded us. The overflowing creeks made new paths and I watched as our trash can floated away, never to be seen again. Bill Guinazzo called to check in on me.

“You doing ok out there?” he asked.

“I’m doin’ fine,” I said. I’d been through flood warnings before and everything looked ok when I checked it a few minutes before. We usually faired ok.

“Has Sonny made it home yet?”

“No,” I said, “but he should be on his way.”

I thanked Bill for his concern and appreciated that my neighbor cared enough  to check in on us. Moments after I got off the phone with Bill the water began to rise. It started to come up to the first step of the porch. We have lattice trim around the bottom of the porch and debris was quickly accumulating against it stopping the flow of the water. I used the broom and kept pushing it aside as best I could. Anytime I stopped for a moment the water would rise again faster each time and was beginning to reach the second step if I didn’t keep pushing away the sticks and leaves.

I thought at one point that if the rain did not let up Ruby and I would have to go to higher ground. It was getting harder and harder to keep the debris away. The chickens were fine hanging out at the pole barn. It sits up a little higher. Water swirled and spiraled, rushing down the hills and gullies. The farm looked like a brown water sea dotted with small islands.

Rising water

While I was holding down the fort here, Sonny was stranded about three and a half miles down the road. The road was flooded and although the rain had stopped it can take hours for the water to recede. The mailbox at the nearest house to him which is abandoned, was completely covered. He watched and waited for three hours for the water to go down . Finally a truck that was waiting on the other side decided to try to go through and was successful.

The daylight was gone now and Sonny was left in the dark. He waited until the water had receded down to about the middle of the mailbox pole and he thought  then that he could make it through to the other side. As he pulled forward the water covered his headlights and the car stalled. He tried to start it but it was futile. Knowing that the water could come in under the door he took his flashlight and checked the floorboard. Sure enough water was leaking in.

He sat there wondering how he was going to get out of this mess as debris passed by him …a palate of work lights, a red gas can, a yellow diesel can, logs and sticks. Apparently someones shed must have washed away. He tried to start the car again and was relieved when it did. Wasting no time he drove out of the water.

It was a worrisome time, but through the whole thing my cousin John and our neighbors all kept a line of communication going. Its nice to know that when things get rough we can all depend on one another.

Sonny finally made it home at about eight o’clock. He wasn’t the only one. There are a lot of stories like ours. School kids were stranded on buses as well as others who were trying to get home from work. The roads are clear now from mudslides, tree trunks and large branches. Its another day, but as of now we are under another flood watch. I think its too late to build an ark.

Greenhouse and islands

Front Yard

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Off-Grid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.