The Great Flood...

This is a few hours after the rain had stopped

As I look out my window I see the sun shining bright. Although it's only 42 degrees outside it feels like spring. When I think of spring I think of rain which makes me think of flooding. On June 7, 2008 Franklin flooded. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I remember it raining a lot. Our street, Water Street, beginning to fill up with water. Since we don't have a driveway or garage we park on the street. Danny kept moving our car to higher ground. I remember being so worried my car would be flooded. If I only knew what would happen just a few short hours later. The rain kept coming, Danny kept checking our basement to see if our sump pump was still working. It was, but not for long. As I mentioned before, our street was filling up with water & quickly. The city actually put a barricade up to block the entrance. Silly city, that won't stop Franklin people from driving down the closed, water-filled street! As cars rushed by, the water slammed into our basement windows, eventually breaking them. Water began to flood in all four basement windows. It didn't take long for our basement to begin to flood.

I kept asking Danny if we were going to be alright. H reassured me everything would be fine. Well just an hour or so later the water raised so high, that our basement was completely covered. If you were to open to basement door you could only see the top step. Everything else was immersed. Danny told me to pack up. At this time Gracie was 15mths and I was 8mths pregnant. Danny put on his waiters and grabbed Gracie and headed out the door. Thankfully he has a nice truck that is raised, otherwise we might have been stuck. It was then my turn to leave. I rolled my pants as high as they could go, and grabbed a pair of tennis shoes. I remember looking at my house thinking this was the last time I would ever see it. There were so many memories. All I could think about was that my baby who is supposed to be born in just a few short days would have no home to come home to. I said goodbye, and shut the door. I walked down my stairs and was greeted by water that came to almost my knees. Danny was there to help balance me and my big belly. We made it through the water and to the truck. Little did we know that almost every exit out of Franklin was under water. Again, thankful for Danny's truck we some how made it out and headed to my mother's house. There we watched the news and saw our town basically float away. I remember seeing the police station almost completely covered. Well eventually the rain stopped and Danny and I wanted to go home to check out our house, we wondered if it was still there. By the time we got back to Franklin the water had actually let down a little. We were lucky. We only had to replace our windows and Furnace. Some people almost 2 years later are still displaced and still don't have any money from FEMA. We are truly lucky. Although Danny and I now wish our house was destroyed so we could have rebuilt. :) I will have to post a house that was completely rebuilt after the flood. It's gorgeous!

Here Danny is standing in our "alley"

This pic is of our alley, and neighbors driveway

Danny took this pic after the rained stopped. When we left our house it was at the very top step.