What I expected to be a much calmer week for us turned out a bit differently than expected.

I received a call from Christi mid-morning on Wednesday with an urgent message that our house had flooded. On the drive towards our house from where I was in Lumberton, my mind began racing through a number of thoughts. I knew it hadn’t rained, so how exactly did we flood. The temperatures had dipped below freezing, but I had prepped all the faucets outside and left the inside ones dripping. When I pulled into our driveway and then entered our home, I was greeted by standing water.

At this point I have to point out that the amount of water we received was in no way close to anything that the victims of Harvey and Imelda were plagued with, but what did hit me was a feeling of helplessness.

We have been quick to lend a hand to those that needed it, but I had never paused to try to truly consider what they were truly feeling. Our minor home flood gave me an inkling of what others must have been feeling when they saw their entire homes affected.

The floods of late have made our citizens into highly capable remediators. Before I knew it, friends were showing up at our home with shop vacs, dehumidifiers, fans, and all sorts of other supplies.

Demo on our carpet and baseboards was quickly conquered.

Water was vacuumed from the floors and the fans and dehumidifiers were quickly setup.

What initially appeared to me to be a task of huge proportions was quickly addressed. By the end of the night, we were enjoying pizza with our friends and the work was behind us.

Since word got out about our problem at home, people have continued to offer support. It has been the most amazing feeling to know that we have people who are there for us at any time.

I learned many things from this experience and many of them have nothing to do with demo.

I was reminded how great my friends truly are. It is easy to say you will help, but to come out and do the work is an entirely different thing. I was also reminded of the resiliency of our community.

Many of those who lent a hand had just completed fixing their homes or were recently flooded again. Yet, they were there with smiles on their faces.

Finally, I learned how important it is to pause before I try to help someone and try to get a mental handle on what they must be experiencing.

Help is great, but understanding and perspective can add a whole facet to how we help someone.

Thank you Orange for being great and supporting others when they need it most.

 

Chris Kovatch is a resident of Orange County. You can reach him at news@orangeleader.com