Flooded in South Louisiana

On August 11, 2016, my husband received a text from his dean that school was cancelled. Soon after, we turned on the news and saw that schools throughout Baton Rouge were closed because of flash flooding.  I planned on working remotely and assumed it would be a nice, calm, rainy Friday.  We had some last minute preparations for a bridal shower that were hosting for our best friends, we had no idea what Mother Nature had in store for us. 

Around 11:30 we realized that the water from the Dawson Creek was starting to reach the drainage pond behind our house.  My husband and one of our friends began to build and stack sandbags. This process continued for the rest of the day.  We built and stacked more than 100 sandbags but the water kept rising and got closer to the house.  We assumed that we may flood but that it would be a few inches at the most.  Around 9:30, water started pouring into our house.  We had to make a decision to leave.  Our son has asthma and we needed to be able to give him breathing treatments. We couldn't very well do that in standing water.  By the time we left our house,  there was five inches of water in every room of our house.  We had to walk in knee deep water to get to our rides, carrying a baby, a dog, and a cat.  We were able to take a few items of clothing and some baby stuff.  That's it. 

We returned to our home this morning.  The water in the street is now waist high.  The water in our home is knee deep.  The force of water entering has moved furniture and knocked some things that were placed up high for safety down.  Everything has been ruined.  Our cars are both underwater.  The process has been started for a rental but our insurance only covers a portion of it.

We are so lucky, we have flood insurance.  We will be able to repair and replace everything.  However, we have to stay in a hotel, we are forced to eat out for every meal, and long-term we will need to rent somewhere while our house is being repaired.  We are teachers, who had to live paycheck to paycheck prior to this disaster.  We really have no idea how we are going to afford an additional living space and continue to make payments on the swamp and two sunken cars that are parked in the swamp. 

Your dontation would help us continue to function here in South Louisiana.  We have a wonderful group of friends here but our support is limited with our families so far away.  We would be so thankful for any donation that you could make.