Flood waters abound...

http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Many of you have probably heard, but our county is (or maybe, at this point, was) in a state of emergency due to an incredible amount of flooding. Both Josh's and my jobs were affected by the conditions. I had to stay at work longer than anyone should have to do anything, really, to cover for the folks who were scheduled to work but were unable to get to the hospital due to roads being closed. A local hospital flooded and ours absorbed many of their patients, which brought with it the headache of transcribing new orders and doing a new admission paperwork on dozens of patients, simultaneously. Ambulance crews and private cab companies transported patients from all over and lined up outside our ER to admit the overflow. Patients who had been discharged but had no transportation home were forced to spend the night in hospital scrubs, sleeping on cots in the GI lab and other currently un-used places. All elective surgeries were canceled, and OR staff was used to transport patients to the floors.

Josh arrived at work to find the locker room under 5 feet of water, denying him access to his uniform, gun, boots, and vest. He made do (as did many others), and as the waters receded he found that one of his coworkers had kindly placed his boots and his flashlight on top of his locker the day before when we anticipated some mild flooding. Both are usable. Meanwhile, a lot of the electrical equipment at his workplace has been damaged. Looks like they'll have to re-learn the "old way" to write a report!

On the home front, Josh and I are fine. Our property tends to get pretty soggy with even average rainfall. We had dug a narrow trench across the front of our driveway to try to make it meet up with the county drainage ditch. Who knows if that had any effect, but it was almost fun to be out there in the soaking rain digging. We didn't know then just how much water we were in store for. Our only complaint is that the increased water draining has stirred up quite a bit of sediment in our well, and the water is running from a lake-water yellowish clear to an orangey, iron-y brown. We hear this is fit to shower in but probably not good drinking water. We have a couple gallons on hand from Josh's parents' house, which was unaffected.

I have to say that I feel quite lucky as I click through the pictures of flood damage on the website above. I can't begin to comprehend the loss incurred as a result of the other hospital's flooding: the pharmacy. The lab. The cafeteria. A small grocery store/market near where Josh works is under water. I am sure all of the food is contaminated. And all of this without yet mentioning the countless homes that have been damaged... we are definitely among the lucky ones.