Invest 93 or whatever it was called made a stop in Belle River on Thursday, July 16. The cat and dog and I were awakened at 4:00 a.m. by a gigantic boom of thunder and flash of li ghtning. We all jumped and that was all she wrote for sleep. More lightning followed, lots more thunder and by this time both animals figured it was time for breakfast so I gave up and began my morning routine. Feed the dog, the cat, give both their treats and then settle in my swinging chair with my current book and a cup of coffee.
Before I get started reading I text my two daughters, one granddaughter, one sister and two friends plus a local friend who is my daily check-in. For safety’s sake, mine mostly, I text her every morning with a quick hi or all’s well. We do see one another now and then but mostly we just do this daily check. If I forget, she texts me to see if I’m ok.
Anyway, once the rain started it really pounded down. The thunder and lighting stopped or at least slowed, but the rain increased. No wind thankfully but I couldn’t help thinking of those poor people in Texas who drowned when a river rose 26 feet in less than an hour. I could barely see the levee from my back door, but I thought about it being 27 feet and a teeny bit of my minds eye imagined the water pouring over that wall. It was not a pretty thought!
Back in maybe l993 or thereabouts, the spillway water level did rise and I can remember standing on the top of the levee across the road from my house and seeing the water just a few feet below. That was before the sheet steel piling wall was put in. I could hear the bubbling noise of water seeping through. It was really scary. That year, most of Belle River and Pierre Part evacuated to higher ground. We didn’t which I suppose was pretty stupid. I think that was the year I tied a pirogue to the back steps of my house, which didn’t flood, and paddled to the road where my car was parked. We put tight lines in the yard and caught quite a few nice fish. I think that was the time we took a freezer from an outdoor building and put it in a bar room across the river where a lot of people used it. I think I put my washer over there also.
Anyway, the rain poured most of the day but around 4pm, the sun actually shone so I took the dog to the boat landing just to get some exercise and get out of the house. It was pretty cool also.
Along the road I was pleasantly surprised to see most yards pretty dry with puddles like mine but only one was really flooded. I wondered if those people might have a broken water line but remembered their yard had flooded like this once before. I guess it’s just very low. I hope we don’t get rain like this often, but if I was those people I’d get a few loads of dirt. Their house was high and dry but the drive was underwater.
Tonight it’s clear, noisy with frogs and crickets but no rain. My phone app says rain tomorrow. I just hope it doesn’t get windy because with this saturated soil, things may start falling down.
Keep dry and be careful on the roads. Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at [email protected].
