The Flooded Town

I've never been in a natural disaster.  I never even considered that I might live through a natural disaster.  Montana is pretty isolated from most things; no hurricanes, no tornadoes, and no floods.

I thought things were bad at our place until I went to the town with the most flood damage.  Yesterday morning we spend scrambling to organize supplies.  Our friend Syoma has a delivery truck for his job and we loaded it full of food, water, clothes, and other supplies gathered from the church.  Syoma, my sister Masha, our friend Katya and I set off for the town.  As soon as we got near town the disorder began; most of the town is without power, so there were not traffic lights, and Russian traffic isn't easy even on a good day.  We finally muscled our way into town and began to survey the damage.

When the flooding hit the town, it came without warning; within ten minutes there was water up to the rooftops.  It took five hours for it to recede; I just heard a story today of an elderly couple that stood on their dining room table with their noses barely above water for the duration of the flood, and they were lucky.  So far, the local estimate is 3500 dead, and they're still finding bodies.  In the days following the flood there were bodies lying on the street under sheets because the authorities couldn't collect them fast enough, and they're still finding corpses.  It was very merciful that I didn't see a body, but there was a definite smell of decay.

We drove into one of the hard-hit neighborhoods, pulled over, and opened our truck.  People began coming to us, mostly asking for water and something to give kids.  We handed out all of our water within ten minutes and most of the food.  The next thing people wanted was underwear; they had no clean clothing, everything was filthy and buried in mud.

After a few stops Syoma had to head to work and we girls stayed.  We went to someone's grandma's house and began cleaning up.  You could see where there had been 12 feet of water in her home.  Everything was completely ruined.  We were working with a big group and while we were there, a nurse came and tried to give us all Hepatitis A vaccinations with one needle that she cleaned with a little rubbing alcohol; I declined.  Thank the Lord, when I went to Southeast Asia in 2007 I got all of my shots updated, including a Hep A vaccination and Tetanus.  Everyone keeps talking about an "infection", and I can only assume they mean either Hep A or cholera.

We spend the day cleaning that house and the neighbor's.  In the neighbor's house there was about five or six inches of mud.  It was made of fine silt, and extremely heavy.  Both physically and emotionally, it was really tiring.

We made it home around 11 that night, flat beat and filthy.  Masha and I had been staying with Katya since the flood, and her 10-year-old son was in a panic that we got home so late.  I plopped down to sleep after a bucket bath (no hot water at her place) and today, woke up to go teach an English lesson.

I came back to the Ivanenko house to discover that Masha had gathered all my stuff from Katya's and brought it here, which is home.  I'm finally home.  The furniture is still scattered all over, and there's only water during the day (I assume they're doing repairs to the pipes) but it's still so good to be home.  It's finally dry and order is returning bit by bit.  I'm tired and emotionally exhausted, but so thankful that we were spared.  Having a damp house is nothing compared to the devastation I saw in that town.  I feel like I have no right to complain ever again.

Пока ребята, Russian Jane