Driving toward our neighborhood on Tuesday was difficult. Earlier on Monday morning, we were awakened by the Austell police driving through our neighborhood, with lights flashing and their P.A. announcing, "Please leave your houses immediately. Sweetwater Creek is rising. Evacuate your homes now." or something to that effect. We grabbed the things we could not live without and left.
Now on Tuesday afternoon, as my friend was driving my son and myself back to our neighborhood, we could not get close to it because there were so many others trying to get a peek at it too. Each time we tried, we were stopped further back down the road.
After my husband got home from work, he gathered us for another ride to our street. This time we could get through. It was surreal. The scene was a little like driving to a pier, where cars are parked on the sides and people are walking to get to a closer look at a body of water.
The body of water that they were looking out over is what stands out in my mind too. A smooth sheet of brown water moves past us. Not a creek any longer, a river. We noted that the stop sign that was once covered is now visible. Someone's car is floating over in the brown water.
You see, that river floating past us disguises the new bridge that was built over the spring and summer, and was just opened as school began in August. This new bridge was to be a lifesaver for this community because we watched overhead as it was being built a good 20-30 feet higher than the last bridge. The old bridge was often out with high water but now, this new improved, HIGHER bridge is covered in water, well over the railings. This is what has captured the attention of our neighbors, and friends who are taking picture after picture of brown water before them.
When my family drove out of the neighborhood on Monday morning just after 6, we drove through a little trickle of water. Within four hours, a friend emailed me, concerned because she had seen a photo on a news website of our submerged street sign.
We expect each day to be the same as we wake up and begin our days. We expect the bridge to be there when we get out of our neighborhoods to go to school and work. We expect that we will come home to the same house to the same people. Now we are trying to make sense of the past few days. My family is fortunate. We have been inconvenienced somewhat. We have been loved on by friends who took us into their home. We have our house still fairly dry, just a little water in the basement which many people have had this week.
Our neighbors and others in our community not so much. Houses are sitting under water, houses and cars marked by brown water stains as flood waters recede.
My family was able to walk into the neighborhood and view the scene from the inside. It is eerily quiet and cars are parked on the one little hill by my house. Fortunately everyone was safe throughout the flooding. People are walking around, taking stock of what they have - their families by their side, their friends, their pets, their lives. People are reaching out to one another, greeting each other. Sadly, we don't know many of our neighbors -- we are all too busy to stop to get to know them.
It's not too late. We have a second chance. We can reach across the street and lend a hand in the clean up. We can listen to the stories and hold a hand. We know we can't count on stuff, things. We are reminded that the important stuff that we cannot live without are the people - even those we don't know across the street.
