Katherine had been watching the weather for days, and was getting more and more anxious. There was a storm headed for her area and she was scared. She watched the news nightly, becoming more than obsessed. She thought about her family, her home, her neighbors and her community. She reviewed the predictions and started to develop a plan.

The current predictions said that the storm was going to come up the the coast of where she lived, but would not come ashore in her area. The concerns were for water to be pushed into her community, flooding the area and causing major damage.

She talked with her husband and they made a plan. The problem with the predictions is that they had heard them before. Many times the weather people had predicted bad storms, with lots of surging water from the sea, but it had never been what they expected. What makes this storm different?

Katherine continued to listen to information and predictions, but there was still a sense of dread and fear. What if this was the storm? What if this was the time and the predictions were correct? Katherine’s anxiety was overwhelming, but the important thing was that they were prepared for whatever happened.

Katherine and her husband did what they felt they needed to do for the storm. They secured furniture and other things outside. They tried to plan for their cars and other things around the house. They thought they were overprepared, but Mother Nature had other plans.

The day of the storm arrived, and the weather began to arrive. The wind increased as the storm passed offshore. It howled and blew, with rain andlightning. The storm passed, and the surge of water began.

As the water began to rise, they hoped it would stop, but it just kept rising. Before they knew it, it was to the house and coming into the house. Fear increased, how much higher would it get? The water had never been this high before, and it didn’t seem to be slowing down.

Water was coming toward the house from the back and the front. The streets were flowing with water, and boats floating down around that were not secured as the water rose. Cars were submerged up to their windows, water continued to flow into homes all around.

You never think about the ocean having a mind of its own, but today it was taking over. Katherine watched news coverage, including emergency rescues as people climbed to their roofs to avoid the surging water. The storm was everything the news predicted. The storm surge covered Katherine’s neighborhood streets and all with water.

In the darkness of night, the water peaked and began to subside, but the damage had been done. The power was out, water filled the homes in the area. The darkness made it hard to understand the events, but as the day came, and light illuminated the devastation, the aftermath was clear. Many lives wouldn’t be the same for a long time.

Katherine and her family were lucky. Their home was above the water peak, but many people lost everything. They had 3-4 feet of water in their homes, flooding appliances, furniture, and beds, as well as papers, pictures, and memories. In a matter of hours, everything was different, and nothing would be normal for a while.

Come back for more of the story next week.