Assessing the Damages

The next few hours and the day after the day after the storm were mostly spent making calls, watching the news, and trying to support each other and the community. Helen was pleased that her trailer survived the storm, but she was completely without power. Still, she was glad to go home. She made some Amish life jokes before I left her there to clean up and figure out her next move. Fig hadn't called yet and I was trying not to panic about that.

When I got back to my place, I got a call from Max again who had finally been able to reach everyone except for Fig. She caught me up on what I didn't know such as she and Freddie were safe in his house in Plant City, but they were also without power as the tree branches had fallen all over the place and many lines were knocked out. She explained that Dee had gone to Pasco County and stayed at a motel. She also explained that she got a weird text from Lillian saying that she was in South Carolina.

Since neither of us had gotten through or gotten a call from Fig we were both worried. I decided that after I got a shower and some fresh clothes on I would just drive over to the house to see what was going on.

When I drove over to Fig's neighborhood, there were lots of detour signs and it seemed like I couldn't get to Fig's street. I could tell that there was major flooding. So I drove past the street to the closest open street where I could find a parking spot. I had to walk a few blocks in the misty drizzle and through the puddles in my cheap sneakers trying to make my way to Fig's street so I could figure out what was going on. As I turned unto Fig's street, I saw how much water had gathered there. More than I'd ever seen. There must have been some kind of clog or drain system problem. The cars that were parked on the street were sitting in about 2 or 3 feet of water. There was an officer guiding the traffic with the detour signs and I thought about asking him what I should do. I carefully walked up to him.

"Excuse me Sir," I said politely, "My best friend lives down this street and I haven't been able to get a hold of her by phone."

"The power is down over here," he informed me, "And I don't recommend that you go down that street unless you've got a kayak with you."

I sighed heavily feeling frustrated and worried as I walked back to my car.