An Inside View of the 2007 Vernonia Flood

I am one of the hundreds of flood victims in Vernonia and have been working my butt off(along with most of my family, who have been outstanding in their support, help and love) to reclaim what little is left of my household after the rising waters destroyed most of it. We have tossed out all the damaged furniture(I have a coffee table and a couple of chairs left - the rest is gone.) and most other possessions have also been tossed away with only a few scraps left unscathed. We're now(Friday, December 7th) up to the beginning of rebuilding/remodeling the place. Not only carpeting but walls have to be ripped out. New drywall has to be put up after the current walls are stripped, disinfected/bleached and then dried. After all that, every single wall has to be repainted. Hell of a mess and hell of a job putting humpty-dumpty back together.

Almost everything I own is gone. I'd say I have maybe 10% of it left and that's probably an optomistic estimate. I have about a third of my books and videos. Most of our clothing and bedding survived, but only because I got it to a laundromat - took about $50 to get it all cleaned/sanitized(brief plug - Pine-Sol works wonders on smelly clothing) and that's after my mom did about 5 loads at her place. A few other odds and ends are also salvageable - anything that was stored above three feet can be saved. Most of my photos and art supplies along with various other belongings and keepsakes that I was storing on behalf of my children are gone. It's just mind-boggling how much damage can be done by a few feet of water.

I'm not angry or even sad anymore. Oh, sure, I cried my eyes out Monday night and Tuesday morning as I heard from my sister, who also lives in Vernonia but higher up where the flood didn't reach, as well as watching news reports. I work in Beaverton and couldn't get home when the roads became blocked by all the high water. It was very frustrating to know that my household was in danger and I couldn't do anything about it. My sister and her family rescued my teen son and three dogs, then went back to put some of the more valuable items up high.

In the end, it's just 'stuff'. The lives in jeopardy were my biggest concern.