A flood of adventure, love
The Carslake family (Alisa, Scobie, Natalie, Mallory, Alaina, Jack) made a choice about the record Mississippi River flood that took over their home in Bettendorf – to see it as an adventure. As the waters came up, and then unexpectedly kept coming up, but then, thankfully, receded, love continued to emerge. Mom Alisa kept an online photo story of the adventure. The first posts came at the end of March. The last post? Just a few days ago.
March 30: Thanks to all our awesome sandbag helpers. Made the job so much better. We did 10 houses today.
April 1: The road is gone and now we boat from our island. After getting sandbags today, our house finally got finished thanks to amazing neighbors and friends.
April 7: The adventure continues but at least it has crested at 15 feet. Pumps shut off last night so woke up to a full front yard. Neighbors quickly showed up and took care of it! Jack enjoyed kayaking down the street.
April 7: Mallory and I couldn’t let jack have all the fun! Check out our mailbox by Mal’s head. I won’t share the video of me getting in the kayak that Alaina took.
April 12: Morning commute was not as planned today. With the high winds, we had a hard time getting the boat off the shore as it kept pushing it back. Jack ended up in the river but after much perseverance, we banged against a couple trees and made it happen. Jack ended up with a glove as a sock to try to warm up his foot. Finally made it to the van and managed to get it stuck in the field. Luckily once again my mom came to the rescue. Kids may have been late to school but they laughed through the whole ordeal. So proud of how they deal with things and the character they already display. Scobie may never go to work and leave me with kids again!
April 14: Easter egg hunt in the flood.
April 28: With the river going up even higher this time, we got to sandbag again! A little trickier with all the water.
April 29: It’s been over a month and river levels keep going up. Still going up about another foot before tomorrow. The guys are digging sandbags out of the river. Hoping we can get the wall built high enough before all the water gets here and that it holds.
April 30: Davenport wasn’t the only barrier that got breached today. Unfortunately the Carslake barrier failed and water surged into the garage in a matter of minutes. Cleanup will not be fun.
May 1: Supposedly we have crested but nothing is for sure other than we got out safe and have moved in at my mom’s (Phyllis Ahlstrand) for the week. Praying waters go down quickly.
May 5: Headed back home to see if we could start the cleanup process. It’s still too early so hung out with kids and had some fun instead. Ended up at the neighborhood “sinko de harbor” party.
May 10: This is the most beautiful picture I have seen in 40 days. That is a road in front of my house. My family will no longer be separated.
May 11: Started flood clean up today with these amazing kids. Lots of mud that we need to get rid of. The whole family agrees that coming inside after hours of digging through mud that the best thing was dinner provided by my favorite Aunt Chris Ahlstrand.
May 12: Happy Mother’s Day to the mom that is not only an amazing mom to me but has played the part of mom to my kids for the last 6 weeks. She is a true example of selflessness and love. She entertained the kids tonight by reading a story Scob wrote in junior high that we found in the flood. My kid’s love for her is like no other.
May 16: People have been asking what they can do to help us. This Saturday starting at 9 we (translation Scob and kids- my body is officially broken) are going to be moving sandbags back to the driveway. Everything has to be there in order for the city to pick them up next week. It’s a huge job and any help would be appreciated. I’m not going to lie, the sandbags are wet and it’s going to be very dirty work. It may even be raining but that’s nothing new. If you are brave enough to want to help, wear long pants and sleeves, rubber boots, and gardening/waterproof gloves. We can use all the help we can get because Scob moving two bags at a time isn’t working!
May 18: I can’t even begin to thank all of the amazing people who came out from St. Paul church to help us sandbag. I got choked up as I watched the people streaming in. Friends and neighbors joined in too and the sandbag wall has been removed.
