And the Fence Was just Gone

Apparently we didn’t do much in February, except mourn the loss of our fence.
You see, it rained a little that month. And a little more, and a little more, until eventually there was A WHOLE LOT OF RAIN which created A WHOLE LOT OF FLOODING.
I was just leaving work one afternoon when I got a call from my neighbor Liz. She wondered if I had been home yet, and since I hadn’t she said we’d had some flooding in the neighborhood and she thought something might be wrong with my fence. Then she said she and her husband Chip would be home and to call if I needed any help.
Help? Surely I wouldn’t need any help!
As it turned out, she was speaking conservatively about the flooding that had occurred in our cul-de-sac. She said later that she didn’t want to freak me out.
When I got home, I freaked out anyway.

You couldn’t really tell from the street that there had been any damage, but I could see the backyard through the kitchen window as soon as I got inside.
I gasped. Literally. My hand covered my mouth.
I called Jim. I don’t think I actually panicked, but I must have sounded like I was on the verge of hysterics because he left work and came right home. I also must have been babbling because although I’m certain that I told him on the phone that the fence was GONE, he was shocked to come home and find that the fence was REALLY GONE.

Two whole panels had broken off and were lodged on the bank on the other side of the creek.

The rest of the fence along the creek had collapsed towards the creek. LOOK AT THE DEBRIS ON THE FENCE! You can imagine the water rushing through our yard, trying to get back to the creek, crushing against the fence until over it went. And don’t fail to notice that the timbers that bordered our play area are now resting on the fence too!

Part of the problem was that not only had our fence collapsed, but so had our retaining wall! See the posts sticking up in the air? They used to be horizontal and covered by yard!

The deluge started here, in the overflow ditch. You can see where our fence fell down into our yard, pushed over by the water rushing to fill the ditch. When the ditch overflowed, the water went two directions: across the yard toward the play area where it then crashed into our fence headed back to the creek and between our house and Laura's where it knocked open the gates on its way to the street.
According to Liz, when she came home from work, the entire cul-de-sac was flooded and she couldn’t even get to her house. The water covered the whole street and flooded the entire downstairs of the house across from us! That poor couple had JUST MOVED IN within the last month.

Here you can see how high the water was as it rushed towards the street! UP TO MY KNEES!!!!!

And here along the back of the house! We can't believe none got in! At least we know that our house is watertight!
So in the end, we only had to have the fence repaired. This also involved Jim fixing the retaining wall. Interestingly, the only portion of the retaining wall that wasn’t damaged by the flooding, was the part on the end nearest Liz's house, the part that Jim had constructed himself! The part we paid someone to do had not fared as well.
So Jim rented an excavator and got to work! And with a little help from me, he made the wall better than ever! (He even taught me how to drive it! Now I have a skill to fall back on if the teaching gig doesn’t work out!)

We’re so thankful the damage wasn’t any worse than it was!
And I’m glad I was at work when it happened! I can’t imagine being at home and watching all that destruction while it was happening! STARING IN FEAR OUT THE WINDOW WHILE THE WATER SWEPT CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE HOUSE AND DESTROYED MY BACK YARD RIGHT BEFORE MY VERY EYES AND THE EYES OF MY TERRIFIED CHILDREN!!!!!
Yeah. I’m glad I missed out on that.