Flooding in Shreveport

I know I promised these a LONG time ago, but it's been so crazy around here with school ending and our trip to Oklahoma. A good friend told me she was having withdrawls not being able to read about our life, so I thought I would post a few entries while I had a minute. =)

On May 13th we had a major flash flood at around 8:30 or so in the evening. Dave and I were out and about all evening shopping for the baby and enjoying each other's company. We knew it was supposed to rain, but not THIS much. Driving back from the mall in Bossier, we knew the main road connecting to ours might have some water on it because it is about a mile-long gradual decline and it was raining VERY hard. Little did we know that there would be THIS MUCH water at the entrance to our OWN street!!! Here is what we saw when we got to our street:
I thought that I could go around this car (because he is actually pointed the same direction I needed to be turning), but with it raining so HARD, I didn't realize just how much road he was taking up and I ended up on the curb in someone's yard (and almost hit the stop sign!). I was supposed to be turning left but instead I was sitting on the curb debating about what I should be doing: "Do I stay here and hope the rain stops SOON? Do I try and go around on the right hand side and possibly get stalled in the MIDDLE of the road? Do I get out and walk to my house?" Of course I HAD to take pictures while thinking (what else would I do???) and I finally called Dave (who was behind me in his nice tall truck) and asked him what I should do. Apparently he was having the same thoughts for those 10-15 minutes because I had to end up calling him. We eventually very SLOWLY went around the car and came up a back entrance to our street. This whole time my speakers were just buzzing and cracking SO LOUDLY and I didn't even have my radio on! (I now know that it was the apparent water in my floorboard causing all that.) I am SO GRATEFUL that God allowed both of us to make it home SAFELY and not get stuck anywhere because the potential was there. We saw at least 3-4 cars getting pushed up our majorly flooded street because they were stalled out! YUCK!
Our next-door neighbor's mailbox during the flood....

Our next door neighbor's mailbox 45 minutes after it stopped raining!! (Just look at that water line in the previous picture......)

There's my car safe and sound in our driveway, but look at the "floating" mailboxes in the middle of the street!

Our mailbox during the flood........

Our mailbox and the street 45 minutes after it stopped raining! (I'm so amazed at how quickly the water went away after it stopped raining!)

So, I guess our mailbox was actually stationary the WHOLE time and NOT floating!

We saw several cars trying to drive in the flood waters in front of our house. Some were very stupid and were flying through the water....guess they thought they wouldn't flood their engines. Hope it worked out for them! =)

Dave was a little nervous about the water.....as you can see here! =) We weren't sure just how high the water would get before the rain stopped. Fortunately it didn't even get up to the sidewalk.

Since there was nothing else to do at 9:30 at night, Dave and I decided to just hang out and watch the rain. It was actually kind of fun. We enjoyed watching all the people that were flying through the water, pushing their cars through the water, and the wildlife (such as the frog on our storm door below) coming closer to the house because of the water.

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The next morning here is what the end of our street looked like:

YEP! Still flooded!!

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And 2 days after the flood I decided to drive my car again. Here is what Dave and I found when we tried to start the car (it's NEVER good when your husband gets in your car and says "Um, honey, I think it smells like water in your car......."):

After soaking up as much water as I could with as many old towels as I could find, there was still LOTS of water in the car. Plus, all the computers and speakers under the seat had apparently gotten wet as well. Dave told me to just bring it in to his dealership and we would see if the warranty woud take care of it possibly.

Warranty DIDN'T cover it since it was flooded, so we had to call the insurance company to come and make an estimate. Since there were so many flooded cars in Shreveport, we had to wait several days for the agent to come and look at the car. Here is what my car looks like right now:

(Keep in mind that my car is only 8 months old...sniff, sniff.....and I am so SAD that this happened. It's my dream car and now it's a mess!!!)

Fortunately Dave DOES work at a dealership and they like him there, so they let us borrow a rental car for free. Thank goodness it's FREE cause I have had it for over 2 1/2 weeks!! And, Dave just told me yesterday that we are waiting on the seatbelts to come in, but since they are apparently recalled, they are on BACKORDER!! I am SO DISAPPOINTED!! Though I am SO GRATEFUL to even have a car right now--and a nice one at that--I miss MY car. Here is the one that I have right now.

All in all, Dave and I feel so BLESSED to have gotten away with what we did. Things could have been SO MUCH WORSE. We saw MANY people whose cars and houses were totally flooded and it ws VERY difficult to find a rental car in Shreveport due to all the damage. I just can't wait until we get our OWN car back because I miss it! =) Thank you, LORD, for helping us as much as You have!! We are so grateful, despite all the inconveniences. =)