Went to bed with thunder and lightening last night and woke up to it again about 4 a.m. this morning. It continued. I dropped the kids at the bus, went to Mass...it wasn't too bad. Went to work out and watched the lightening strikes out the window. Dashed to the car, and decided still to stop, as is my usual routine. at the church near my school for just a few minutes of quiet. I parked in the fire lane, though...that much closer to the door.
With the time change, I am back to sitting in darkness, once the last people leave after Mass, and I like it that way. Today was like night. And then the heavens opened. After a little while, I thought I saw a break in the rain, so I dashed towards my car. And then dashed to my classroom a few minutes later. I made my way to first hour, and the rains came down.
All of our classrooms open to the great outdoors, and we watched as the water washed over the sidewalks and filled the pasture next door. And still it came. We carefully made our way to second hour...tiptoeing close to the walls. And the rain continued to come and the water continued to rise. Into the classrooms.
A mouse ran across the floor in second hour, but fortunately only the teacher saw it. Driven from its dry little nest somewhere. Only a couple of the classrooms actually flooded to the point of not being able to hold class in them.
When it came time to leave second hour, we couldn't. So we stayed put for another 45 minutes or so. The rain slowed and the water had subsided some. So I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up pants and gingerly tiptoed through the water. About ankle-deep at that point.
That was pretty much it for the day. We fed them. Which is more than I can say for my own children. They were stuck in first hour for hours with no electricity. When lunch time came, they got room service...3 snack-sized bags of Graham Teddies.
My fifth hour class watched Sandlot, and after they finished part of a test, the teacher in my last hour class also put on a movie. At about that time, my own offspring called to say their bus hadn't arrived at school, and for me to come and get them.
And so I left, and did not return. As of 6:30 tonight, there are still some schools with children remaining...whose parents can't get to them. Last I heard they were transporting them to my school's gym.
My own children are delighted that school at their facility was cancelled tomorrow. The above picture is of our football field. For some reason, when they built it, they put a levee around it. I have seen it swampy, but I have never seen it completely full...like a tea cup. From end zone to end zone. 15 inches of rain in 12 hours will do that, though.
Here's hoping for a drier tomorrow and a prayer for those whose homes were flooded today.
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