Lessons Learned

I'm sure there are more, but three of the most obvious things I learned from the flooding of our house were:-

1. It's not a good idea to keep all your shoes in one place. I used to keep all my shoes under the stairs, so obviously they were ruined as soon as the water hit. I managed to squeeze into a pair of Bea's boots (flat soles fortunately), they were a couple of sizes too small, but it didn't matter at the time. Once we got out of the house we were stuck in the center of town, no traffic could get in or out. Fortunately my parents were available to collect us (and accomodate us), but we had to walk 15-20mins across town to an accessible street. Three months later I can still see my blister marks as a reminder.
2. Disasters are a lot easier when you're young, childless and petless. It was scary helping Bea down into that little boat, and climbing out onto the ledge to lower myself down, but compared to our elderly neighbour we had it easy. I can't imagine how it must have felt for those handing down their babies and children. And as for pets, my brother lived a few doors away from me, and while Bea and I had time to pack, he was busy trying to round up all their animals. So, while I hobbled across town in my wife's boots, at least I had a change of clothes, he had a snake in his shirt and a rabbit in his bag.
3. The values you put in insurance policies really matter. Seems like an obvious one, but next time I have to renew my home contents insurance I'll be making sure the amount is actually enough to cover what I have. This whole experience would have been a lot less stressful if I'd just taken the time to calculate it when I took out the policy.

Here's a little series of pictures we took inside our house during and just after the flood. The first was quite early, not long after we decided the water was too cold and dirty for us to risk wading around trying to salvage some of our things.

I think the second shows the flood water about as high as it went, it's hard to say for sure as it may have risen after we left. We know from the water marks on the wall in the aftermath that it peaked at about six foot.

This final photo shows the aftermath, maybe a day or two after the flood. As you can see, river water is very dirty.