After the storm

The rain continues - going on nine straight days. Yesterday was the climax with 15-18 inches of rain falling.

We knew it wasn't a normal day early. I was in a class of fourth graders at 9AM, working on double digit multiplication. Every time thunder boomed or lightning flashed, anxious eyes glanced toward the window and everyone giggled nervously. "My pop-pop and gram have a lake in their backyard," shared one gangly 10 year old. "It thundered all night!" added a pretty, petite girl. The storm sounded like it was directly overhead. I was back in that classroom at 1 and the sound was the same, the children now tired from being anxious.

Georgia is familiar with thunderstorms, so this wasn't new to any of us. What was odd was that it continued, without a let up, for hours. By noon, we were calling parents whose children were scheduled to stay in the afterschool program, asking them to come and pick up their students as early as they could. At 2 we lined up car-riders and cautiously put other children on the busses. Bus drivers deserve praise for the calm way they navigated closed and flooded streets. The office was full of parents coming to pick up children, telling tales of submerged cars and impassable streets. By 4 the school was quiet.

Noon, twenty-four hours later and the sun is out, off and on. The stream behind my house has shrunk down to a reasonable size but the messiness of yesterday is evident everywhere. Children with boots are exploring the stream. I walked the woodland path and had to double back when I reached this washed out bridge. The scenes on TV show we missed the brunt of the flooding - and school is canceled because so many roads are impassable.
The kitten and I are 'working' at the computer -