Losing our Home to a Flood
Donation protected
On February 3rd, 2021 the St. Clair River got a large ice damn built up in it which caused water to rush through the local cities flooding the area. Going into yards, homes and businesses. Our family lives in East China Township and was hit by this flood.
We are the Ivey Family, we have been going through a few years of rough times and struggling trying to find a break, some peace of mind. There’s four of us, Claudia (71) with her three kids, Miki (46), Bryan (44) and Michele (42), each handicap. Claudia lost her husband, David Ivey, and all of the kids moved back so she won’t be alone. They moved into East China on September 1st. This is the place we just got flooded out of.
We need to be able to move. We’re asking for help for Plastic bins, Moving truck, Movers (we’re all handicap and can not deal with moving this stuff again), down payment on a new place and help to replace a few of the big items that got destroyed including one bed. We know movers charge by the hour and miles, this will not be cheap.
The family is on disability and we have not found a place in our budget yet, but are searching around. We are trying to sell some stuff to raise money too but right now we’re so drowned in trying to get the stuff in the house taken care of that we have not had time to take pictures, do write ups and post what we are selling.
Information about the Flood
The Garage got up to 3 to 4 feet of water, to where the family could not get into the Garage to save anything floating in the water. Within the house the worst was in Michele’s room with up to 8 inches of water, and 3 inches in most other rooms on the main floor of the house from the kitchen, bathrooms, living room and Claudia’s room. Being told we have to get out of this house, as it will take 4 to 5 months to properly clean this house and Miki is highly allergic to the mold that could start setting in.
Since we moved in we got the house mostly set up as we wanted it. Though we were storing boxes in the Garage (Over 100) and bringing one to two boxes in at a time. We knew that there was a chance for the Garage flooding at some point, but felt it would be Spring time and we still had time to get it empty. This way we could work at a pace where we were moving in and getting rid of stuff that we don’t need anymore.
In November Claudia took a fall in the shower and was trapped there for 3 hours. Miki and Michele were not there, and she told Bryan not to come in the room, since she wasn’t covered. But he did manage to get her a big towel while she was down. At first she did not realize how bad she was hurt, but the pain got worse every day. She finally had it checked and found she damaged her hip and found that it’s bone on bone. She went through physical therapy, but is going to need surgery which she is not ready for yet.
Right before Thanksgiving Bryan was brought to the Hospital as he was not doing well. They found that his liver is failing. We had to put him on a strict diet and trying to get his medical set up so he can be taken care of. Stress levels have been making it hard to get everything in order, but the diet seems to be helping. He’s still weak and hurting.
Michele was injured at work in 2004 by electric shock of a high voltage molding machine, she has CRPS which has crippled her from being able to hold another job. In pain 24/7, with a spinal cord stimulator to try and help control her pain levels. Normal life things like showers, wind, cold, and touch all causes Michele a tremendous amount of pain. She also has really bad attacks where it looks like a seizure, having hard time breathing, pain shooting through her body, she can not talk or stand when these attacks happen. It’s normal for her to have an attack 3 to 4 times a week.
Miki got injured on September 1st, 2013 at Seal Beach in California when she was walking out of the water, only knee deep a wave went over her and pulled her into the riptide, then brought her up in another wave which brought her down face first into rocks. She broke teeth, her nose and fractured her cheeks. She also broke two parts of her neck, which has caused her a lot of problems through the years. On top of that she has really bad asthma and is allergic to mold. We have almost lost her many times to her breathing problems.
Still both Miki and Michele have been pushing forward to do as much work for the family, since we can not afford to hire people to come in and do the work for us. They were out when the news came in about the flood that could hit the night of February 2nd in St. Clair Shores County. They rushed here, thinking only the garage would be in danger. Everyone did their part in throwing things from the Garage into the house, and any boxes staying in the Garage were being placed up high in hopes that it would not get wet.
Michele can’t handle the cold so her job was to take down the Christmas tree so that they could stack boxes where the tree was. Thinking that area would be safe. Because this was a rush job, the tree which is one they used yearly was just thrown into bags onto the couch to be out of the way. The family thought this area was safe for the boxes as it’s in the house.
At 10pm Claudia took a photo outside showing the water coming towards the house. Miki and Michele stayed up late into the night and caught another picture at 5:30am of the same part of the yard showing how much closer the water was, as the garage was already being flooded.
At 9am Claudia found that the front porch was totally under water as the water had reached the front door. Michele heard this and went to get out of bed, finding her bedroom floor soaked… and the indoor nightmare began. The water covers all but one room on the main floor of the house… carpets are soaked, feet are freezing and much stuff was destroyed. We lost things from family videos, photos to even Michele’s bed as the mattress got soaked from the flood water. The biggest item destroyed is a Kia Sorento that was in the driveway.
While trying to clean up Miki fell down the steps from the upstairs due to the wet floor.. when she grabbed the hand rail to try and catch herself it broke sending her down. She hit her arm and her head hard into the wall, to where there’s a lump and bruising on her left arm. She needs to get this checked as it’s been hurting her bad ever since. Bryan also got injured during the flood as he stepped on an electrical cord which was under water that was plugged in outside which gave him a bad shock. While Michele had 4 of her attacks from the CRPS (4 in one day never happened before) which made it so she could not help for several hours in the evening time with trying to move things up to the second level away from the water.
A friend made his way and waded through the knee deep water outside. He helped with getting things up stairs and making sure we had food for the night. The water surrounding the house made it so both Claudia and Michele could not leave the house. It was scary, but if Michele had an attack while trying to wade through the ice water or if Claudia fell out there in that water, it could’ve led to a much worse situation for the family. The Ice water surrounded the house for two days, trapping us here. This week has been very scary and we hear this will most likely happen again in the upcoming week.
Problems with staying in the house. The floors and carpet have water trapped under them, which can bring in mold and Mildew. The installation under the floor and in the walls was destroyed from the water making the house freezing cold. We have been staying at the house though as we’re trying to at least secure everything to get ready for the second wave. That is coming so no more stuff is destroyed. We’ve lost so much already. And now one of our beloved pets has fallen ill, we moved her upstairs to a warmer area. But our Cockatiel is not doing well.
We need to move again. And we’re already broken from how much we’re doing. Any help will go towards getting a new place and trying to save what we can from this flood. We hope to bring in enough to hire a moving crew as we really can not do this again without help.
Thank you in advance for anyone who can help us here. And if you can’t help, please share.
Adding a video from the night of the flood from a Facebook Live Michele did. and some pictures of our nightmare.
We are the Ivey Family, we have been going through a few years of rough times and struggling trying to find a break, some peace of mind. There’s four of us, Claudia (71) with her three kids, Miki (46), Bryan (44) and Michele (42), each handicap. Claudia lost her husband, David Ivey, and all of the kids moved back so she won’t be alone. They moved into East China on September 1st. This is the place we just got flooded out of.
We need to be able to move. We’re asking for help for Plastic bins, Moving truck, Movers (we’re all handicap and can not deal with moving this stuff again), down payment on a new place and help to replace a few of the big items that got destroyed including one bed. We know movers charge by the hour and miles, this will not be cheap.
The family is on disability and we have not found a place in our budget yet, but are searching around. We are trying to sell some stuff to raise money too but right now we’re so drowned in trying to get the stuff in the house taken care of that we have not had time to take pictures, do write ups and post what we are selling.
Information about the Flood
The Garage got up to 3 to 4 feet of water, to where the family could not get into the Garage to save anything floating in the water. Within the house the worst was in Michele’s room with up to 8 inches of water, and 3 inches in most other rooms on the main floor of the house from the kitchen, bathrooms, living room and Claudia’s room. Being told we have to get out of this house, as it will take 4 to 5 months to properly clean this house and Miki is highly allergic to the mold that could start setting in.
Since we moved in we got the house mostly set up as we wanted it. Though we were storing boxes in the Garage (Over 100) and bringing one to two boxes in at a time. We knew that there was a chance for the Garage flooding at some point, but felt it would be Spring time and we still had time to get it empty. This way we could work at a pace where we were moving in and getting rid of stuff that we don’t need anymore.
In November Claudia took a fall in the shower and was trapped there for 3 hours. Miki and Michele were not there, and she told Bryan not to come in the room, since she wasn’t covered. But he did manage to get her a big towel while she was down. At first she did not realize how bad she was hurt, but the pain got worse every day. She finally had it checked and found she damaged her hip and found that it’s bone on bone. She went through physical therapy, but is going to need surgery which she is not ready for yet.
Right before Thanksgiving Bryan was brought to the Hospital as he was not doing well. They found that his liver is failing. We had to put him on a strict diet and trying to get his medical set up so he can be taken care of. Stress levels have been making it hard to get everything in order, but the diet seems to be helping. He’s still weak and hurting.
Michele was injured at work in 2004 by electric shock of a high voltage molding machine, she has CRPS which has crippled her from being able to hold another job. In pain 24/7, with a spinal cord stimulator to try and help control her pain levels. Normal life things like showers, wind, cold, and touch all causes Michele a tremendous amount of pain. She also has really bad attacks where it looks like a seizure, having hard time breathing, pain shooting through her body, she can not talk or stand when these attacks happen. It’s normal for her to have an attack 3 to 4 times a week.
Miki got injured on September 1st, 2013 at Seal Beach in California when she was walking out of the water, only knee deep a wave went over her and pulled her into the riptide, then brought her up in another wave which brought her down face first into rocks. She broke teeth, her nose and fractured her cheeks. She also broke two parts of her neck, which has caused her a lot of problems through the years. On top of that she has really bad asthma and is allergic to mold. We have almost lost her many times to her breathing problems.
Still both Miki and Michele have been pushing forward to do as much work for the family, since we can not afford to hire people to come in and do the work for us. They were out when the news came in about the flood that could hit the night of February 2nd in St. Clair Shores County. They rushed here, thinking only the garage would be in danger. Everyone did their part in throwing things from the Garage into the house, and any boxes staying in the Garage were being placed up high in hopes that it would not get wet.
Michele can’t handle the cold so her job was to take down the Christmas tree so that they could stack boxes where the tree was. Thinking that area would be safe. Because this was a rush job, the tree which is one they used yearly was just thrown into bags onto the couch to be out of the way. The family thought this area was safe for the boxes as it’s in the house.
At 10pm Claudia took a photo outside showing the water coming towards the house. Miki and Michele stayed up late into the night and caught another picture at 5:30am of the same part of the yard showing how much closer the water was, as the garage was already being flooded.
At 9am Claudia found that the front porch was totally under water as the water had reached the front door. Michele heard this and went to get out of bed, finding her bedroom floor soaked… and the indoor nightmare began. The water covers all but one room on the main floor of the house… carpets are soaked, feet are freezing and much stuff was destroyed. We lost things from family videos, photos to even Michele’s bed as the mattress got soaked from the flood water. The biggest item destroyed is a Kia Sorento that was in the driveway.
While trying to clean up Miki fell down the steps from the upstairs due to the wet floor.. when she grabbed the hand rail to try and catch herself it broke sending her down. She hit her arm and her head hard into the wall, to where there’s a lump and bruising on her left arm. She needs to get this checked as it’s been hurting her bad ever since. Bryan also got injured during the flood as he stepped on an electrical cord which was under water that was plugged in outside which gave him a bad shock. While Michele had 4 of her attacks from the CRPS (4 in one day never happened before) which made it so she could not help for several hours in the evening time with trying to move things up to the second level away from the water.
A friend made his way and waded through the knee deep water outside. He helped with getting things up stairs and making sure we had food for the night. The water surrounding the house made it so both Claudia and Michele could not leave the house. It was scary, but if Michele had an attack while trying to wade through the ice water or if Claudia fell out there in that water, it could’ve led to a much worse situation for the family. The Ice water surrounded the house for two days, trapping us here. This week has been very scary and we hear this will most likely happen again in the upcoming week.
Problems with staying in the house. The floors and carpet have water trapped under them, which can bring in mold and Mildew. The installation under the floor and in the walls was destroyed from the water making the house freezing cold. We have been staying at the house though as we’re trying to at least secure everything to get ready for the second wave. That is coming so no more stuff is destroyed. We’ve lost so much already. And now one of our beloved pets has fallen ill, we moved her upstairs to a warmer area. But our Cockatiel is not doing well.
We need to move again. And we’re already broken from how much we’re doing. Any help will go towards getting a new place and trying to save what we can from this flood. We hope to bring in enough to hire a moving crew as we really can not do this again without help.
Thank you in advance for anyone who can help us here. And if you can’t help, please share.
Adding a video from the night of the flood from a Facebook Live Michele did. and some pictures of our nightmare.
Organizer
Miki Ivey
Organizer
Marine City, MI
