The Flood from #5

*Here's the scoop on the news: http://www.localnews8.com/news/rexburg-deals-with-flash-flooding/26973468
As I'm sure most of you have heard, Rexburg flooded yesterday. WHAT?! No one heard? :) As crazy and surreal as it seemed at the time, a lot of people were left with LOTS of damage today. A friend in my ward posted this picture this morning:

That's an apartment under there. It seemed sort of off to me that so many people were wearing booty shorts and taking selfies in the poo water while this was going on, but whatever floats their couch. I've never been involved in something quite like it before, and I hope I never am again! I do have to say that it was amazing to see people so willing to help each other. So many were wandering around asking everyone if they needed anything. It was nice that it brought people together. We had so many friends and people from our ward call and text us to see if we were okay. Everyone was keeping tabs on each other. And I really think that a lot of people yesterday who weren't too badly affected by it didn't quite understand how much of a disaster it was in some areas of town.

Austin and I were nervous, but we were blessed. We live in the basement of our apartment complex which is located down in what I now call the "Rexburg Lowlands" haha here is a view from our kitchen window:

The beginnings. At this point we were like, "Oh cool! That's a lot of rain and hail!"

But it quickly turned to...

"Oh crap! It's all up on our apartment!"

Again, we were lucky. I sent this picture to my brother, Stephen, and he replied, "Beachfront property!"...not quite. We were worried since we live in an older building that there might be a crack in the foundation and it would leak through. However, Austin does cleaning and restoration for his job so he knows how to watch for the signs. So he kept checking inside, and outside, and inside again. And again, and again. We ended up being okay. Especially after I remembered to close our bedroom window (!) So we went outside to take a look at the damage and see if we could do anything. That's when we found that Lexington Apartments (RIGHT next to ours) looked like this:

This one was pretty sad because we saw a couple coming home from being on campus to find their bottom-floor apartment flooded and their car under water. It was pretty heartbreaking. It was just a matter of them being a little bit lower than us.

There was a whole mix of different things going on. It was almost funny just that it happened so fast, but not so funny at the same time. Coming into work in Idaho Falls this morning, almost NO ONE knew it had happened at all! Austin had called his dad last night to tell him about it and at the end of the conversation he said, "Well, be safe. I'm gonna go mow the lawn."

Overall, it was a very interesting experience that I hope to never experience again!
Oh, and let's not forget the quarter-sized hail because that's always an added bonus.

(After it melted down a little)