the flood

Some people have inquired about the state of my parent's basement, and some have even asked about donating to their fund (PLEASE, dont' feel obligated).

We have created a blog to keep everyone updated on the progress of the cleanup and restoration. 

You can visit it here.

there's sh*t in the basement.

Not exactly how we planned on spending our Saturday.
John and I decided to walk up to my parent's house, just for the heck of it. And as soon as we walked in the back door, my mom says "I've been calling you and calling you". Uh...sorry? Apparently I don't feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.
Why had she been calling me?
There is six inches of sewage in her basement.
Around 10AM, my mom got a call from a neighbor saying he had sewage in his basement, and asking if they did. No, she said. Until she started to hear it gushing out of the toilet downstairs. Sure enough, it was in their basement too.
Within literally seconds, there was sewage covering the entire basement.
What are you supposed to do about poop-water in your basement? Nothing. You literally can't do anything. Hazmat has to come out because it's toxic, and the people who live in these houses just have to sit and watch it all happen.
Saddest thing I have seen in quite some time is my dad sitting on the stairs, just staring into his basement.
Then there is my poor little brother who's entire life is in the basement, and now almost everything is being thrown away because of contamination.

After about two hours from the initial call to the city, the Disaster Relief started to show up. Taking pictures, documenting everything, and then starting to pump out the sewage and remove anything that came in contact with it. We had the media come out, thanks to my tweets (that I was urged to send, *cough*Kati*cough*), and they interviewed Dad along with some of the other people affected by this. As bad as all of this was, it was kind of cool to see my photo on KSL's website, even credited to me.
Now it is kind of just a waiting game. And I feel awful. There is nothing you can do, but it's so hard to see your family so sad. Everything will work out, it always does, but until it does, life will be a little rough. I hope everyone else's Saturday was not as eventful as ours, and if it was, I hope it was eventful in a good way. Here is the story done by KSL if you are interested.