Chris Cannon's Flood Damage Fund

Chris Cannon is organizing this fundraiser.

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Sunday morning October 4th was a morning to remember. I walked out my front door to a river flowing between my house and my neighbors. I live in a subdivision called Coldstream; and yes I live on Coldstream Creek in a cul da sac at the bottom of a hill. So not only did the water rise in the creek to become a river, it also flowed downhill towards me and my neighbors house engulfing my entire property ,sometime in the middle of the night. To get an idea of the water level; one of my neighbors said he drove by my house around 6:00 a.m. and my Honda American Classic Motorcycle was completly under water as well as the front end of my car. My van was parked behind my car, which sits kinda high, and the water was up around the floor boards. Shortly after driving my van, the transmission went because there was water in the transmission. I had insurance coverage on these vehicles, but had to total the car and motorcycle. The car I made out ok on, but the motorcycle I lost a bunch of money on. The van we were able to fix, but even after insurance kicked in, I still had to come out of pocket another $600 plus dollars because of the deductible and other non related flood charges. At least I had insurance on these vehicles. Unfortunately like many other flood victims, I had home owners, but not flood insurance. Which means nothing is covered. My garage had 3 feet of water/mud in it and my house had 1 foot of water/mud in it. So most everthing that was touching the floor and up foot or so is gone. What makes this a double whammy is the fact that I moved back to Columbia 12 years ago to help out with my folks that were in their golden years. My dad passed 7 years ago and my mom this past January. I spent a great deal of money over the last 12 years and have depleted most of my 401K helping them out which I don't regret. After my mom passed in January I have spent the last 8 months moving their belongings into my already full house. So the downstairs was like a hoarders house with furniture and boxes everywhere. My two car garage was packed from back to front from the ground up to the ceiling with boxed up possessions. So when the flood waters came in they ruined 30 percent right off the bat of all my and their possessions. I was able to save their antique couch and some other things I luckily had upstairs. But the amount of furniture and belongings that I had to throw out was devastating. And being a bachelor, I had about three weeks clothing on the floor in the garage by the washer and dryer that were obviously history. The dryer was half filled up with water/mud the next day when I opened it up. All of my first floor has been removed including tearing out the drywall about 4 feet up and the insulation behind the drywall and below. All floors, cabinets, toilets, appliances, air conditioning, and duct work have all been removed and trashed. The good part is that all my animals were safe. I have 4 cats and 4 dogs. And normally a couple of cats will be out overnight and both dogs and cats would be roaming the house. But for some reason the night before, I gathered up all of my pets and had them locked in my master bedroom. So all were safe from this storm. I didn't think Coldstream Creek would flood, because it hasn't in 30 years since Hugo. And this wasn't a hurricane, but it certainly did a lot of damage to South Carolina. I have a half acre fenced in back yard that was bulldozed down like a twig. Unfortunately, that is where my dogs would play. So lets just say I have been getting a lot of exercise walking dogs. I was lucky enough to get a 10 by 10 fenced in area from one of my neighbors. I also have one dog that doesn't listen very well and likes to run up to people and bark at them. I couldn't take the risk of him getting out and terrorizing all the neighbors and volunteers and knew I had to put him in a kennel. I was fortunate enough that a very incredible lady named Laura, who owns a beautiful animal resort called Wescott Acres, put up a whole bunch of animals of other flooded victims as well at no charge. I kept him there for 2 weeks until things started to quiet up a little around here. There were so many incredible people, groups, organizations, churches, families, and individuals that came from all over to help. That Sunday after the water had receded from the garage I started pulling things out. After about 5 hours I felt as if I only scratched the service. The next day a group of adults and kids showed up from the Mormon Church and asked if I needed any help. In 3 hours we had 70 percent of my garage unpacked. I also had a pastor and others from Christ Church that were helping me out the next few days. The pastor was trying to get me to start moving the things from inside my house, But I told him that I needed to box a lot of things up so that it would be neater and more orgainized. He kept telling me that we need to get in there to save my house before mold takes over, which can happen in a situation like this within 72 hours. Finally a group of kids just made an assembly line and forced me to start getting my belongings out of the house. You just need to be humble, and that was the right call on the pastor. After that, the pastor served as the foreman and some of his group, Irmo Fire Department, and a group called F3 gutted and saved my house. There was this one Irmo Fire Department firewoman named Sharon who was outstanding. She helped me out when she was on duty and when she was off duty as well as many others in the community. The amount of volunteers and support from the community has been awesome. I had a girl come over from a neighborhood 10 miles or more away and asked if she could do my laundry. When she returned it, she also bought me some new underwear, I little embarrassing, but you need to be humble. It was a very nice thing to do, and needed. I will also tell you that you will not lose weight the first couple weeks of a disaster. We had a catering company serving first class meals for dinner each night for about 100 families and the Red Cross would come by every day in a food truck with lunch and dinner. And we're talking pork chops, meat loaf, double hamburgers, etc. And they were kind enough to give me extras for the dogs. I also had a woman go out and buy me a couple bags of dog food and a stake and chain to tie up one of my dogs. She also gave me a hundred dollars, that I first tried to refuse, but she insisted and I can tell you is was much apprecciated. I also had a neighbor who was caring a breathing device come over and said he couldn't do anything physical, but wanted to help, and gave me some money. I obviously thanked this man, but didnt let him see how he touched my soul or I would have started crying. Just a whole bunch of incredible situations that are breathtaking like that experience was. People randomly dropping off cases of water, chips, snacks, fruit, paper towels, cleaner, bleach, etc. A week later another woman in the community came over and took a couple baskets of my laundry. The last group of volunteers that were here last week were part of Billy Grahams Church. Their group is called Sumaritans Pride. Most of the people from this group were from Israel and 2 from Scotland. Inside the US were folks from almost every state on the east coast and most of the southern states to Texas. Now is the rebuilding and hopefully they state will not make me raise my house because I am now in a flood plain. Before only 30 percent of my property was in flood zone and I wasn't required to have flood insurance which cost about $1800 more a year to have. I wish I had it now.
Over the past 25 years I have been selling coffee, I have always donated to shelters, non profit organizations, fund raisers, and various other groups. I went thru a fire in upstate New York in the early 90's that took me 5 years to recover from, and a flood in an apartment I lived in Delaware about 16 years ago when I didn't have quite so many possessions as I did a month ago, but was still tramatic. I was down in Charleston helping my college room mates mom and grandparents clean up after Hugo. This is nothing compared to that, but it is still a lot of damage. I have never asked for a handout, but I could really use some help with this one. I got a little assistance from FEMA ($7600) and I will apply to the SBA for a low interest loan. I have a 23 foot boat that I have never had in the water that was on the side of my house on a trailer that ended up going thru a fence, around 2 large oaks, thru a dog cable attached to 2 trees and rested up against a boulder and large log, with the boat being halfway off the trailer in my back yard, that I can sell if I can get a tractor to pull it out. My neighbor across the street borrowed his bosses and it took us 2 hours just to get it back on the trailer and pull the huge log out from underneath. And then when he was trying to manipulate the trailer out of my back yard around the two big oaks, a large piece of debris with a nail sticking out put a hole in his rear tire. But the boat or my possessions aren't important. It's getting my house and property back to some sort of normality. I finally got the permits to rebuild and now I need to figure out where to start. The best quote so far on my air conditioner and duct work is over $10,000. Then I still have to put in insulation, floor boards, drywall, carpet, paint, labor, etc. My backyard was a river and it took out a Kawasaki 250 I haven't rode in forever and my lawnmower, but I ended up with a television set and 3 water skis from someone up river. I also have cinder blocks from one of my neighbors houses 3 houses away to get an idea of the force of the water. If you want to get a better idea of some of the water levels in my community, go to tofundme offical site and there is a special section just for the Carolinas. Sorry to ramble on, but if you could help I would so much appreciate it. YITB Chris Cannon